Erased From Existence
by an incarnated angel
Summary: Unable to cope with what he had to endure for three years in the U.S. Naruto Uzumaki, a confused, lonely, sixteen year old secluse struggles to social interact with his family and friends. His best friend is the key to helping him heal, but will he be successful? This story has mature content.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 of Erased From Existence**

_"Hurry up and get over here! I found another one!" the officer shouted with a racing heart beat. The blonde cowered as far back as he could underneath the dirty cot, but the cop's flashlight kept exposing him._

_Immediately an ambulance team rushed to give medical assistance to the petrified eleven year old. He didn't know what was happening since there was such a commotion going on all around him. As he was pulled out from his santuary, he kicked and bit the American EMT out of fear of what the male was going to do to him._

_"You Japanese? Do you speak any English?" an officer questioned as he tried very hard not to choke up with the sight before him. Not understanding what had happened, the trembling blonde would realize that he was finally free from the slave scum that had forced him into an American sex trafficking ring_.

Five years later, the same blonde was back in his native country of Japan, and living with his uncle in their moderate sized city called Konoha. Naruto Uzumaki now a sixteen year old, was a loner, very unsure of himself, and appeared to be a complete loser in his peers' eyes. One particuliar classmate couldn't stand him and he made sure that the outcast blonde knew it.

"Oi idiot, why don't you find a wall to crawl up into!" the robust bully taunted as he walked behind Naruto entering into the school. First the jeer and laughter, and next the forceful slamming of his textbooks out of his hands.

Naruto's blood started boiling but he did nothing. He quietly squatted down and began gathering up his thick science and math books once again. The bully, Choji Achimichi, loved to tease only when he was in a big crowd surrounding him; and other peers who knew Naruto before he moved to the states those three years that he was gone, only watched and did nothing to help him. They looked on, or walked around him acting like they didn't see what had just happened in front of them. But while that was the regular scene, there were a couple of classmates who did notice and one in particuliar walked up to the shaking blonde and offered his assistance.

"You dropped your pen." the low toned gentle voice spoke as Naruto watched a hand in kindness extend the the black inked Bic out in front of his face. Naruto took the pen, and then looked up to see who was being so nice to him. It was Sasuke Uchiha, the most popular teen in the school as well as being Naruto's childhood friend. The ebony haired male sauntered off with his girlfriend, Sakura Haruno next to him, and he never looked back at Naruto. Thinking nothing of the good deed, Naruto gathered the rest of his books and then rushed off to his first period science class with Kakashi Hatake.

Class was a blur as always. His teacher was never enthusiastic about his lessons and he acted like he didn't even want to be there. His mind was always on some paperback book that he pulled out of his navy blue sports pant's pocket in between experiments. School was a drag in general for him, and this was how Naruto viewed all of his classes at Konoha High School.

Life for Naruto was calming on the outside of himself, but interiorly he was living in chaos. Not being able to define himself as a male after the hell he had gone through, he now only survived from day to day, month to month and year to year. As time seemed to be drifting by him, he found himself seeking out quiet areas in the city so that he could get his head together. One particuliar place was an old martial arts training site that was now abandoned since modern day dojos were built instead.

Not caring about hanging out in the everyday teen social circles, he opted to go to this training ground and practice some martial arts techniques that he had picked up from some movie he watched. It happened to be on a Saturday and as he was sweeping the inside of his leg against the moss over-grown tree stump, the most unlikely person showed up.

"I see you discovered my secret getaway." the gentle toned voiced called out as two strong legs crunched on the top of dried twigs underneath his sneakers. Naruto turned to look to see who was talking to him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he continued slamming his leg against the wood.

"I could ask you the same. This is where I come to clear my head. What's your story?" Sasuke asked as he started doing some warm up stretches.

"I don't have one. Besides, I was here first. Go find somewhere else to escape to." Naruto snidely suggested. Sasuke stood up and stared at the brassy blonde.

"I won't do that. We'll spar for the space if that's what it's going to take." he replied. Naruto didn't like hearing that as his answer.

"It's not going to happen. Both of us can't be in the same place. I wanted to be alone and not have anyone around me today." he shared with a glare in his eye. Sasuke started chuckling.

"Well that's not going to happen either. I'm not leaving." he growled back. Naruto could feel his adrenaline rising and he got ready to claim the territory his. Sasuke picked up on the signal and he too got in ready stance. Both teens glared intensely at each other before rushing toward the other one like battering rams.

Dush!

Before either one knew what was happening they were kicking, and blocking punches from each other. For several minutes Naruto and Sasuke battled it out, until Sasuke swept Naruto in behind his leg that resulted in him falling hard to the ground. Still huffing from the sudden exertion, Sasuke hovered over Naruto's face and spoke his words of victory.

"You're good but not good enough. It's my turn to practice and your time is up." he announced with authority. Naruto listened as the Uchiha voiced his decision, and then seconds later, Naruto was swiftly back up on his feet and brushing the dirt and grass off from himself.

"Naruto, we use to be friends." Sasuke spoke, but this only made Naruto upset.

"We were only kids and alot has changed since then." Naruto shared before reluctantly grabbing his back pack and swinging it over his shoulder. Sasuke watched as Naruto got on his mountain bike and peddled away.

When Sasuke arrived home that night, his older brother, Itachi, who was the CEO of Uchiha Enterprises was cooking up a chicken stir fry. After washing up Sasuke joined his brother at the dinner table. Itachi was curious about the perplexed expression that his little brother had on his face as he dished himself out some steamed rice into his bowl.

"Did something happen between you and Sakura?" he asked. Sasuke shook his head from side to side as he scooped some stir fry over his rice.

"No, we're good. It's just that I met up with Naruto at the old training grounds today. He's really changed since he moved back from the states." Sasuke shared as he started positioning his chopsticks in his hand. Itachi only listened. He knew what had happened to Naruto, because Jiraiya had sat him down one night a year after Naruto had come to live with him five years ago, in order to inform him of what Naruto had gone through.

_"You can't breathe a word of this to anyone." the older man had spoken after Naruto had been released from Konoha's Youth Psychiatric Hospital._

_"Sure, what is it?" Itachi had asked while sipping his Sake. Jiraiya gulped down another shot glass of Sake in the bar where both Itachi and he were having a few drinks as Inchiraku's new addition to his ramen shop._

_"Naruto has been to hell and back. That boy has got to be the bravest kid I know. He didn't move to the states the way everyone thought his parents and him did. Minato and Kushina were secret police for our district and they got tangled up in something over their heads. They got captured by the felons they were pursuing, and when they wouldn't give classified information to the enemy, they put Naruto into a sex ring over in the U.S. as their form of revenge." Jiraiya choked out, but not without tears racing behind his words and chasing them down with another shot glass of Sake._

_Itachi sat stunned at what he had just learned. He had heard about kids who got tricked into prostitution or some job scandal that promised them a better life, only to find out that they were being lured into sex trafficking. As Itachi soaked in what he had been told, he too poured another shot glass of Sake and gulpled it down without thinking. Finally finding his voice again, he addressed Jiraiya with his questions._

_"So you're saying that for those three years that Naruto and his family were gone, he was really a sex slave? Whatever happened to Minato and Kushina? Did they...?" but he didn't finish his words when he saw Jiraiya break down in front of him._

_"They never made it out. It was a hush hush operation from the get go, and no one, especially the towns folk were not to know what secret life Minato and Kushina lived, but your parents knew that's why I'm telling you any of this. I was sent a telegram telling me where I could pick up their bodies, but only if there was a money exchange." Jiraiya shared. Itachi's eyes widened._

_"Did you do it? Did you give them the money?" Itachi asked with great curiosity. Jiraiya only shook his head side to side._

_"No, I had my people find out their hideout and then I blew them to smitherines. Luckily Minato and Kushina's bodies were far away from the complex. I later gave them a proper burial, and when Naruto came home to live with me, we paid our respects together." Jiraiya finished sharing._

_Itachi had so many questions. "What happened to Naruto? He was so bubbly, feisty, and confident as a kid. How is he now?" the Uchiha inquired as he reverted back to sipping his Sake. Jiraiya looked more distraught than ever. _

_"He's lost, kid. He doesn't like to be around people. He isn't into drugs and alcohol, thank God, but he's so detached from everyone and everything else. His time in the hospital did him a little good, but he had no real friends since he came back home. I worry for him all the time." Jiraiya shared. _

_"Why did you tell me all of this? Sasuke is the one who was friends with Naruto." Itachi questioned. Jiraiya stopped rubbing the top of his thick long white pony-tailed mane long enough to give the twenty-one year old an answer._

_"A time is going to come, when Naruto and Sasuke are going to get back together as friends. When that does happen and he finds out what really happened to Naruto, he's going to need you to be there for him. Those two were inseparable as kids, and there's no way that a very strong bond of friendship dissolved just because Naruto left the country for three years. Will you be there for him? I mean when he does come to you, will you be there as his support?" Jiraiya asked with an intensed worried expression on his face. Itachi swallowed the last of his drink. _

_"Yeah, sure. I'll be there. It was hard on us when our own parents died in the car crash, but yeah, if he needs me because of what happened to Naruto, then I'll definitely support him on it." Itachi confirmed. Jiraiya semi smiled with relief in hearing the young mature man's answer. _

Itachi wondered if this would be the night that his little brother would talk about Naruto as he continued explaining of their chance encounter that afternoon. "Onisan, are you even listening!" Sasuke yelled as Itachi snapped out of his own memory.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought, you were saying?" the older Uchiha asked as he got ready to hear once again what Sasuke had already explained.

"I said that we brawled over who would have the territory. Man, that guy had some swift moves. He must have been in a great martial arts program in the states, because he almost kicked my butt." Sasuke shared. Itachi only listened and it seemed as if Sasuke still didn't know what had really happened to his best friend, and Itachi was relieved that he didn't.

As Naruto returned to his house he dropped down hard onto his mattress because he was exhausted. Jiraiya heard him come in and he went to check in on his nephew. As he walked into the bedroom and saw Naruto on the bed asleep he scanned the room to see what kind of interests Naruto had picked up. The teen never shared any of his ideas with Jiraiya because he didn't like the social interaction with even his own family member. As Jiraiya scoped out the room, he saw a box that caught his eye. Needing to see what the contents was, he walked over to it and peered inside. Not expecting to see what he did, Jiraiya almost fell backward before he caught his balance and approached the box once more.

She was beautiful now. She had been so shy and quiet throughout her childhood, but from the photos that Naruto had taken of her, Hinata Hyuga, one of Naruto's childhood friends was more beautiful than ever. Jiraiya had no idea that his nephew was sweet on the girl. He had hoped but wasn't sure if what had happened to Naruto wouldn't damage him as a male or not. But the proof was right in front of him that Naruto liked Hinata. Not wanting to wake his nephew up, he snuck quietly out of the room so as not to disturb the snoring blonde.

* * *

She sat at her desk intensely concentrating on the answers for tomorrow's social studies test. "Now what was the president's decision on the Gulf War?" she asked herself out loud right before hearing a knock on her bedroom door.

"Miss Hinata, I have brought your tea and lemon." the house maid spoke in hushed tone through the door. Hinata softly got up from her burgandy colored Renaissance upholstered chair and gracefully walked toward the door to open it.

"Thank you Mia for your thoughtfulness." she politely voiced before reaching out to take ahold of the flowered Bone China saucer and cup into her hand. After closing the door again she walked over to her bed and sat down. Taking out her Iphone she looked at the snap shot she took of Naruto huddled in a far wall in the back of the school when he thought no one was watching him. As Hinata looked at his posture, she captured his tormented expression on his face that spoke volumes to her in only the few seconds that she had before he tucked his head into his knee caps. Seeing him like this caused Hinata to feel an intense surge of pain rush through her. This was only many of the photos she had captured of his distraughtness. He never knew that she saw him that way, and she wanted him to never find out. He didn't even recognize her, Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba and pretty much everyone else that he use to hang out with in grade school when he first came back.

Four years had passed and Naruto hadn't interacted very much with anyone. He came to school did his homework, turned in all of his assignments on time, and continued to be bullied. Her heart ached for him but she could only watch him from the back of the crowds, or over on the sidelines. If only she were more brave she would have stood up to every bully who picked on Naruto, but she was too afraid of them.

As these thoughts tormented Hinata, she felt so guilty for all the times that Naruto was left with bloody noses, lips, and bruised skin. Never fighting back, he waited until it was over, then slowly picked himself up, and gathered his belongings up once again. If only...if only...

A knock came to her door and she snapped out of her thoughts to answer. "Yes?"

"Hinata, it's Neji." her cousin gently spoke through the closed framework.

"I'll be right there." she replied as she quietly got back up and walk over and opened the white and gold decored door.

"What is it, Neji?" she asked with curiosity. Neji stood in front of her and looked down at his adoring princess cousin.

"I would like to have a few words with you, if you have the time." he requested as he waited for his cousin's response.

Hinata was a little nervous because it wasn't uncommon for her over protective cousin to question her about her daily happenings especially if it involved someone of the opposite gender. Expecting that she would talk to Neji in a more appropriate room for visitors, the dainty Hyuga escorted her cousin to an upstairs parlor where they could sit on powder blue Baroque styled sofas and love chairs. Finding this environment more comfortable for himself and her, Neji sat down making sure to wipe away any fallen lint that might have recently collected on his dark navy well pressed slacks. Hinata waited patiently for Neji to begin addressing her.

"Hinata, I found out that Kiba Inozuka really likes you and he's planning on asking you out very soon." Neji began sharing. Hinata felt relieved that he told her Kiba was the one. If he had mentioned that Naruto liked her, she would have fainted right there on the spot.

"Oh I see." she replied. Neji watched her expression closely.

"That's it? That's all you're going to say?" he asked with surprise.

"Neji, Kiba is my friend and it's natural for friends of the opposite gender to develop feelings toward one another. It's only passing. He only has a crush on me." she explained sweetly. Neji couldn't accept his cousin's light heartedness so easily.

"Cousin, Kiba Inozuka really likes you. He plans to ask you to go out with him. Are you going to simply accept his proposal?' the miffed Hyuga questioned.

"Neji, you're making more of it than there really is. We're teenagers and we're going to explore relationships with different peers. I would like to go on a date with Kiba. He probably would introduce me to a world different than my own." Hinata laughed. Neji could only scowl.

"I'm so happy that you're taking this matter so seriously. You have a name to uphold and..." but Hinata stopped him before Neji had a chance to finish.

"Please let's not mention the duties that I am obligated to uphold for our family's sake. I know what I'm expected to do, Neji." Hinata gently explained.

Seeing that his concerns weren't having any baring on his cousin, he surrendered to the conversation and excused himself respectfully. "I'll bid you a good night then." he announced before escorting himself out of the main house. Hinata felt so relieved that Naruto wasn't mentioned. Needing to get ready for bed, she got her bath essentials together and then entered into her private bathroom to wash up.

The next day Naruto woke up and got ready for school. Looking at the normal kind of clothes that he wore, he felt under dressed for some reason. Every since Hinata remained on his mind more often, he wanted to dress up a little more than usual. As he scanned through the nice clothes that Jiraiya stocked up for him, Naruto's eyes lit up when they landed on a light blue and white striped shirt. Looking down, he spotted a new pair of hush puppy tanned shoes that he wanted to break in. Smiling he felt good about himself for the first time in an extremely long time.

When he arrived at school, heads started turning and that included girls that never wanted anything to do with him. Sasuke walked down the hall with Sakura and he looked at Naruto as the blonde suddenly held an air of confidence about him. Of course Choji and the group of guys that he was hanging out with had to make their presence known.

"Well look it here. Oi idiot did you decide to finally change your clothes? What has it been four years now since you last wore something clean?" Choji taunted as his pals joined in. All the other kids standing around were watching as the bullying began. Naruto's smile instantaneously disappeared as he realized seconds later that he was going to be the brunt of their cruel joking once again. One of the guys who was standing behind Naruto decided to play a dirty prank on him. Taking his pen out, he purposely opened it up and bent the ink tubing. Everyone else was paying attention to the jeering that was beginning and so when the guy took out his small switch blade, they didn't see him slice open the slender plastic cylinder.

Naruto had been standing at his locker, and now he was getting ready to head to his math class for first period. The guy called out as he got ready to spray Naruto's new dress shirt with the ink. "Oi Uzumaki!... Ooops sorry about that." he mockingly apologized as the shot of black ink splattered onto the baby blue cotton fabric. Everyone who had been laughing stopped, when they realized what had just been done to Naruto. Not able to contain his self control any longer, Naruto lunged at the bully and tackled him to the ground.

"I'm going to pulverize you!" the infuriated blonde threatened as he started throwing punches at the not-so-tough guy at the moment. Sasuke dropped his books immediately and began pulling on Naruto to get him up on his feet, but the blonde was too far gone in his revengeful mindset. "That was a new shirt!" he growled out as he continued swinging one punch after the other.

Seeing that his buddy was being punched out by Naruto, another one of the guys that Choji hung out with didn't think twice when he jumped up, did a ninety degree aerial kick with his foot and landed down hard onto Naruto's shoulder blade.

Crack!

Naruto felt the surge of pain race through him and before he knew what was happening he stopped dead in his tracks and started screeching from the pain he was feeling. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! My shoulder! It hurts! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" he continued bellowing as Sasuke realized that Naruto's bone was punctured through his skin.

Everyone backed up and gasped as Naruto writhered frantically in excruciating pain. Holding his shoulder blade and trying to push it back into place, he tried at no avail to stop the sickening feeling that he was experiencing.

"Rondo, that was taking it too far!" Choji yelled when he realized how cruel his friend's intent had been toward Naruto.

"Hey, he was hurting Rosco! I couldn't let him keep punching him like that!" he shouted in his defense.

Naruto had already bolted as he mindlessly raced away from the crowd with Sasuke chasing after him.

"Naruto! Let me help you!" Sasuke shouted as he tried to catch up to the panicking blonde. The teachers had been notified and an ambulance was on the way. Naruto raced in delirious pain and he started feeling disoriented as if he couldn't move his legs or his body any further. He could barely hear Sasuke calling out to him until everything faded away and he saw only black.

Sasuke was petrified as he watched in slow motion as Naruto fell to the floor. Trying as hard as he could, he raced to cushion Naruto's fall with his own body, otherwise he might have cracked his head open.

As they waited for the ambulance to come, Sasuke laid Naruto's head on his legs and calmly rocked him back and forth. As the Uchiha looked over Naruto's inked and blood smeared shirt, his own blood started boiling. "Why can't you ever catch a break, Naruto?" he asked himself out loud.

After the medics finished bringing Naruto to the hospital, Sasuke stayed in his hospital room for the next three days. When Naruto finally woke up, he was bandaged and his right arm was in a sling. Seeing that Sasuke was sitting at the end of his bed, he started tearing up when he remembered what had happened.

"How long have I been out?" he asked. Sasuke had been slightly dozing and when he heard Naruto addressing him, and the raven sat up in his chair.

"Three days. You were really out of it." the Uchiha shared. Naruto looked around the room and then over at Sasuke.

"I want to be alone." Naruto announced without any feeling in his tone. Sasuke felt the sting of Naruto's brush off.

"Look it, I don't know what your problem is but I've been nothing but your friend and..." but Naruto started crying hard, and Sasuke couldn't accept his friend's tears so easily.

"Oi! What's the matter with you! You've been this other person for the last four years now! You don't talk to any of your friends, you brush everyone off as if you think you're better than us, and I'm sick of it! What's your problem? If this is what living in the states did to you, then maybe you should just move back there, because we don't need you treating us like..." but Naruto couldn't handle Sasuke's accusations any longer.

"Shut up!... Shut up! I can't listen to ..." but Sasuke was really angry and he needed to get off his chest what had been bothering him for a very long time.

"You're going to hear me out, Naruto! You've ignored me all these years and I want to know why!" he shouted. Naruto tried to find a way to cover his head, but the pain in his shoulder was too intense.

"Don't do this! I can't handle what you're saying! Stop it Sasuke! I can't...! Naruto pleaded. As Sasuke watched Naruto freaking out in front of him, Jiraiya stepped into the room.

"What's going on in here? I could hear you two all the way down in the visitor's lounge!" Jiraiya scolded. As he looked over at Naruto he could see how upset he was even though he was trying very hard not to show it. Sasuke couldn't calm his breathing in time, and he continued heaving from the upset that had just occurred between Naruto and himself. Jiraiya started feeling his adrenaline building up.

"Sasuke there are things you don't know about. I don't know what was said to Naruto but it's apparent that whatever it was really upset him. You and Naruto need to talk..."but Naruto had to yell out what he was thinking.

Ojisan I don't want Sasuke to know! He can't ever know!" Naruto shouted as tears started collecting in the corner of his eyes. After Naruto blurted out his words, the raven whipped his head around to stare at Naruto with a look of confusion on his face.

"What are you even talking about? Know what? That you went away to the states and got into a better martial arts school than I did!" he vented.

Naruto was relieved that Sasuke thought that was the reason for Naruto being upset. If the Uchiha was clueless on what really happened, then he was going to leave it like that. "Yeah, I was afraid that you would be upset if you knew that I trained with a professional. So you don't care?" the trembling blonde asked as Jiraiya gave his nephew a certain authoritative glare.

Sasuke could tell that both Uzumakis were not being truthful with him. "You're lying, dobe! I know for a fact that you didn't train with a professional because your moves over at the old training grounds were really chaotic and sloppy. Your form was all over the place, and the only reason you almost beat me in that sparring match was because I wasn't ready for the fierceness that you used on me." the raven informed. Naruto just laid in the bed silent for a few seconds and then he responded.

"You're right, Sasuke. I'll never be as good as you. I think I want to sleep now, I'm not feeling very well." he announced right before getting ready to close his heavy lidden eyes, and try to fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 of Erased From Existence**

But Sasuke wasn't ready for their conversation to be over just yet. As he looked over at Naruto he grimaced before speaking. " I don't get what your problem is. You're the one who has separated yourself from the rest of your friends. We were happy that you came back, but you kept snubbing all of us off. Do you think you're better than the rest of us?" the raven scolded.

"That's enough Sasuke. Like I said before there are things that you don't know and Naruto doesn't feel comfortable talking to you about them." Jiraiya reprimanded. Naruto was trying very hard to keep it together, but as he watched his uncle and best friend hashing it out in front of him, it became too much.

"I can change Sasuke! Just forget about what my uncle said, alright? We can start over with our friendship, okay? I haven't been the friend to you that I should have, but starting today, right now I'll change, you'll see." Naruto expressed as he strained to show his famous ear to ear grin that all his friends once knew him for.

Sasuke looked over at Naruto and then back at Jiraiya. "I don't know what the deal is with the two of you, but I can tell when I'm being lied to. The way that you are right now, dobe I can't be around you. But look me up again only when you're ready to be my honest friend." the raven announced before turning to walk out of the hospital room.

Naruto felt the sting race through him as his watered cerulean blues watched his best friend walking away. He needed Sasuke's friendship. The raven was the only one who stuck up for him when he got bullied. But moreso than that, Sasuke had always remained Naruto's friend no matter how badly the emotionally damaged blonde had tried to diss the Uchiha. It just hurt so much to pretend that his stay in the U.S. had been a good one. When he returned back to school after his stay in the psychiatric hospital for one year, it had been so hard to be in the same classes as his friends were in.

No matter how hard he tried to shove all of his pain, anger, confusion and depression down deep inside of himself, it always found a way to gurgitate some of itself back up again. Feeling hopeless that he could never get far enough away from the constant nightmare, he felt it was better to avoid his peers all together. But Sasuke unknowingly wouldn't let the blonde go through with his plan. The raven always found a way to talk to his best friend, or show up at the right time when someone wanted to fight Naruto. He was just always there, and had been for the past four years.

But now that Sasuke was finally giving up on him, Naruto couldn't accept the ending of his strained friendship with the Uchiha.

"Sasuke, wait!" Naruto called out. Sasuke stopped and turned around to glare back at the blonde. Jiraiya felt his heart pounding in his throat.

"Naruto, what are you doing? You can't, he's not ready." the old man hollered out. Sasuke glared at Jiraiya and then back over at Naruto.

"What is it that I'm not ready for?" he questioned. Naruto looked over at Sasuke and then back at Jiraiya.

"I have to tell him. I can't go on like this, old man. He needs to hear it from me." Naruto spoke with trembling tone.

"Do you want me to stay here with you?" Jiraiya asked with concern. Naruto stared at Jiraiya for several seconds and then finally he turned his stare onto Sasuke.

"No, it's best if I tell him myself." he quietly spoke. Sasuke only stared at Naruto with feelings of resentment for himself having wasted so much time on the idiot blonde when Naruto didn't care about their friendship the way that he did.

"What are you rambling on about? Tell me what?" he asked with anger showing in his eyes. Jiraiya's heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it was going to come right out of his chest.

"Naruto, are you really sure about this? Because if you aren't you don't have to say a thing." he offered one last time. Naruto turned his head toward his uncle.

"I have to do this, old man for the sake of Sasuke's and my friendship." he voiced before turning to stare at Sasuke.

"Alright then. I'll be in the waiting room if you need me, ne?" he spoke as the brawny man headed toward the door.

"I'll be fine, but thanks." Naruto shared as both he and Sasuke waited for Jiraiya to exit. When they were finally by themselves, Naruto looked at Sasuke.

"Take a seat and just listen." he began. Sasuke found a room chair and then sat down in it. He was all ears as he got ready to hear whatever Naruto was about to tell him. The blonde was acting very intense like it was something major that he wanted to say. But because the raven had agreed to listen he waited for Naruto to start talking with him.

Realizing that he finally had the floor, Naruto felt his heart pounding and he started wanting to chicken out from not saying anything at all. "Well, now that you're here I guess you're waiting for me to tell you something, huh?" Naruto began. Sasuke felt his adrenaline rising.

"What is it that you felt was so important for you tell me?" the raven questioned with irritation. Naruto felt extremely nervous all of a sudden.

"I don't think I can do this afterall." he announced with his head down. Sasuke quickly got up from his chair and started walking toward the door.

"I don't have time for your games, dobe! Sakura is waiting for me, and if you're not going to ..." but Naruto interrupted.

"No, wait! I can! I'll tell you, but I don't know how you'll react towards me once you know!" Naruto called out. Being so frustrated with the run around that Naruto was giving him, Sasuke couldn't hold his tension in any longer.

"Either you want to tell me, or you don't! I'm not going to sit around here while you decide whether..."

"I didn't have a good time in the U.S. the way you and everyone else think I did." Naruto blurted out. His head was lowered and he couldn't even look at Sasuke as the words spilled out of his mouth. Sasuke stopped his rant and looked at Naruto. He was really trembling, and his voice was shakey. Sasuke sat back down and started listening this time.

"I...I don't know how to talk about this...it's been...extremely hard on me whenever I think about it. I'm afraid that you won't ever want to talk to me again, and I can't handle that, Sasuke, I just can't." Naruto quietly spoke without ever raising his head. Being in his blue and white printed hospital gown with the bed pillows propped up behind his back, he sat with his legs spread out and bent underneath his white sheets. His blonde wave showed it's crown of gold as Naruto's face remained lowered unable to look at Sasuke as he began talking.

"I'm here now, aren't I? I'm listening to what you want to tell me. I can't say what will happen after you're done talking, but for now, I'm all ears." the raven shared. Naruto nodded his head as he continued talking with difficulty.

"Okay, here goes. I...left Konoha for three years but it wasn't because I wanted to go, I was...I...was forced to leave. It was because of something that had to do with my parents that I was taken to the U.S. I hated it there. My parents were never with me because...they were...they were killed Sasuke! My parents were murdered!" Naruto cried out as he clenched his fists tight on both hands and gritted his teeth to fight back the tears.

Sasuke's eyes widened and his heart beat quickened. _Naruto's parents were murdered? _Sasuke asked himself inside of his head. Seeing that Naruto was having a difficult time, the raven jumped in.

"I didn't know, Naruto. No wonder you've been crazy acting all of these years and..." but Naruto interrupted.

"That's not all I wanted to tell you! Just listen until I'm finished because this isn't easy for me to tell you any of this, but our friendship means something to me and..." but the raven stepped in.

"Okay, I get it, just keep talking, I'm listening." the Uchiha informed. Naruto wiped the tears away and began speaking again.

"When I was taken to the U.S. it was meant to punish my parents. I was put into a...a sex ring! I was forced to...to!" but Sasuke felt sick and needed Naruto to stop.

"Don't say anymore! I need to use the bathroom." he announced as he ran for Naruto's hospital room bathroom and closed the door. Naruto sat crying with his hand over his brow. He knew that Sasuke wouldn't be able to handle the truth. That's why he had remained a loner all those years.

Sasuke emptied his stomach, and then he sat in the corner on the bathroom floor and began crying. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Was Naruto making that up or did it really happen? Was that why he never talked to anyone, or hung out with his friends anymore? Did he really have sex with only God knows who?

How could this happen? Naruto a sex slave being violated against his will. As Sasuke thought about the fact that Naruto had probably been with both males and females, he felt sick again and lunged for the toilet bowl once again.

Naruto was waiting for him to return, but Sasuke couldn't move. He was frozen with shock and he didn't know how to face Naruto the same way again. Even though the dobe was his best friend, this changed everything. Naruto was someone that he didn't know anymore. He no longer felt a bond because of the lifestyle that Naruto was forced to live in. It was making him sick even being in the same room with the blonde after learning that he had been a...a male whore.

As hard as that hurt to think about, that's all Sasuke could see Naruto as, at the moment. He had been with other...

Unable to be there anymore, the raven jumped to his feet, whipped open the door, and dashed for the exit out of the room. Naruto watched as Sasuke kept his head turned away from him, as he made a mad dash out into the hall.

"I can't be here, Naruto. I've got to go." Sasuke announced as he disappeared outside of the room. Naruto felt all of his feelings of being used and abused, being worthless, and now rejected by Sasuke, surging up inside of him. Needing love, comfort, and touch from the one person who was always there for him, he yelled out his name.

"Pervy Man!" he shouted out in desperation. Immediately Jiraiya came running in the room, and embraced Naruto carefully into his arms.

"I told him and now he hates me! He thinks I'm disgusting!" Naruto bellowed as the pain intensified inside of him. Jiraiya was now also in tears as he silently just held Naruto into his chest as the crushed male cried out his feelings of rejection.

Needing to let Naruto know that he was there, and that he loved his nephew very much, the old man kept trying to reassure the emotional broken blonde that everything was going to be alright.

"Naruto, you're a good kid. You told your best friend the truth and he wasn't able to handle it is all. I love you, and it doesn't matter if other people don't accept the truth of what happened to you, you've always got me to lean on, ne?" Jiraiya tried reassuring. But Naruto kept crying profusely as he replayed the image of Sasuke leaving the room quickly and not even being able to look at him.

"He hates me old man! Now he's going to hate me until my dying day! I don't want to live here! I can't live here, anymore! Please can't we move to somewhere else?" Naruto pleaded.

Naruto's request had come so sudden. "Where do you want to move to?" Jiraiya asked spontaneously since he didn't want to move away from his life in Konoha.

"Eddy! My mom was from there! Can we move there and start over fresh!" Naruto pleaded.

Jiraiya just guided Naruto's head to look up at him. "We'll talk about this later, Naruto. But right now you need to rest. You've had a taxing morning and you need to let your shoulder heal." Jiraiya pointed out as he looked into Naruto's eyes. The blonde lowered his head and couldn't say another word. He knew this was his uncle's way of saying that for them to move to Eddy was a ridiculous idea.

Feeling very tired, he laid his head down on his pillow and closed his eyes. The rest of the day would play itself out and eventually he would leave the hospital, and go back home. School would be waiting for him along with his friends, but the only difference would be that Sasuke now loathed him and wouldn't be his friend anymore. As the thought of this settled in, Naruto emotionally lost it.

"Nothing ever works out for me!...Why!...Why!...Why does this world hate me so much! Why!" he profusely cried out and Jiraiya ran to get a nurse.

Sasuke slammed his house door shut that lead in through the kitchen. He wasn't expecting to see Itachi at the counter with his head stuck in a cook book. When the younger sibling stormed passed him immediately he knew something big had upset his little brother. "Do you care to talk about it?" he asked as he continued cutting up squares of firmed tofu on the wooden chop board.

Sasuke looked at his older brother in his white chef's apron tied around his jeans and a purple dress shirt tucked into his waistline. His black loafers shined as a piece of celery fell onto the blue stoned flooring next to them. "Why are you cooking? Shouldn't you be at the office?" Sasuke questioned with irritation.

"I have a date and she's coming over for lunch. What's your story? I thought you were visiting Naruto in the hospital." Itachi inquired as he bent down to read the next vegetable listed in the recipe that he needed to chop up for Mapa Tofu. Sasuke grimaced at hearing that question.

"I left. I can't deal with him anymore. He told me the most disgusting thing and I couldn't stay in the same room with him. We're through being friends and..."

Slam!

Itachi's cutting knife banged hard onto the chop board as he took his hand towel and began wiping the excess vegetable reminance off from his hands. "Did he tell you about the United States?" the older Uchiha grilled. Sasuke's eyes widened.

"You knew?...Why didn't you ever say anything?" Sasuke shouted with anger and surprise. Itachi looked at his brother with his intense dark eyes, and then gestured for both of them to go to the living room so that they could talk. Sasuke sat across from Itachi on the plush royal blue upholstered sofa and chair that faced each other across from the long glass and wood coffee table that was adorned with a large gold vase with various flowers in it.

"Yes I knew. Jiraiya told me four years ago when Naruto came out of the psychiatric hospital here in Konoha." Itachi began sharing. Sasuke's eyes widened as he couldn't believe his ears.

"What?...a psychiatric hospital? What else don't I know?" he yelled angrily. As Itachi watched and listened to Sasuke's conflicting feelings he knew the time had come for him to have the talk that Jiraiya had told him he would need to support Sasuke on.

"Naruto's been messed up for a very long time Sasuke. He was forced out of his homeland, dragged off into the worst place for any child to be in, and then forced to do things against his will. Then he comes back home after three years of hell, stayed in a youth hospital, and then comes out a year later trying to live a normal life once again.

You an I could never know what that would feel like. We've had everything we ever wanted our whole lives. But Naruto was given a bad deal and he doesn't know what to do from day to day. You said that he told you something disgusting, it was about him in the states wasn't it?' Itachi boldly asked.

"Why do you have to be so blunt about it? Yes he told me about him being a ...a..." Sasuke couldn't bring himself to even say the title.

"Just say it, Sasuke. Naruto was a..." but Itachi wasn't allowed to finish his sentence.

"That's enough! I don't want to hear anymore!" Sasuke yelled out before running up to his bedroom and slamming the door shut. Once inside his room, he found his katana and without thinking he sliced a large x across his wall. Quickly he dropped the weapon and then drove his fist into his hanging red punching bag in a corner of his bedroom.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" the raven hollered out in fury as he allowed what Naruto and his brother told him, to finally sink in. _Naruto was used in that way, his body was only an object for whoever to find pleasure with. He must have been abused because of his feisty nature, and that probably made the blonde's experience even worse. Then here he was walking out on his best friend like that? When it really counted, he wasn't supportive at all. What was Naruto doing right now?" Sasuke asked himself inside of his head._He had to go back to the hospital and make things right between the two of them again.

It was several hours later when Sasuke opened his bedroom door, and after deciding to take the rest of the day off, Itachi was still at home. He watched as his brother galloped back down the beige carpeted stairs before he felt the need to address him. "Going back to see Naruto?" he asked as he turned on the dishwasher.

" Yeah. If Sakura calls the house tell her to reach me on my cell." Sasuke called out as he headed for the garage entrance through the kitchen. When Sasuke arrived at Naruto's hospital room he only saw Jiraiya in there talking to a police officer. Sasuke was confused on what was happening and as Jiraiya caught the raven's stare, he excused himself to go and talk to Sasuke.

"What's going on here? Where's Naruto?" Sasuke anxiously asked. As Jiraiya approached closer, he could see the worry in the old man's eyes.

"I don't know how he did it, but he left his room when I went to go to the men's room for a few minutes. I called the cops because Naruto's not thinking straight and I'm afraid that he could try and hurt himself again." Jiraiya shared. Sasuke's eyes widened.

"What do you mean, hurt himself again? Are you saying that he has tried to..."

"Sasuke, your running out on Naruto like you did, crushed him! I was in here for at least an hour consoling him after you left. His collar bone is broken and he must be in excruciating pain! Couldn't you have tried to be more understanding than you were? It took everything for him to tell you the truth, and you ran out on him so quickly! Why? Why did you reject Naruto like that?" Jiraiya asked with shaken voice. Sasuke dropped his head before speaking.

"I don't know. I just lost it after he told me everything." the raven responded.

"He couldn't have gotten far. The cops are going to scan the area and I need you to help me find him." Jiraiya informed. Sasuke shook his head in agreement.

"Let's start with the basement. If I know Naruto he would have gone there to find a way out of the hospital without being detected." Sasuke shared as both he and Jiraiya headed toward their decided locations. Nodding his head in agreement, Jiraiya commented before turning in another direction.

"You start there and I'll look on this floor. One of us is bound to find him. Whoever does first, contact the other, ne?" the old man instructed. Sasuke nodded his head and then pushed his way through the stairwell metallic blue door.

Naruto was panting and unable to move another step. He had found the door that led outside from the boiler room, and he was trying to bear the dizziness he was experiencing, but he hadn't planned out the outcome of what he had just done once he left his hospital room. Unable to muster up enough energy, he had dropped to his knees and hands in excruciating pain.

"What was I thinking? I've lost my strength." he scolded himself out loud as he dropped the metallic object in his other hand. Once again he pulled himself back onto his feet enough though his other arm had little feeling in it. After he worked his way up the dirty cement stairs, slamming his body hard against the brown metal door that led to outdoors, he only managed five more steps until his body gave in to the pain and he collapsed unconscious in the wet dewed grass.

Fifteen minutes later Sasuke barreled through the same boiler room door with worry as he strained his eye sight through the darkness outside. "Where are you, dobe?" he asked as he suddenly tripped over something in his way. "Ugh!" the Uchiha yelled as he fell hard over what felt like another body. Needing to be sure, he pulled out his Iphone and switched on his flashlight application because the moon was his only light on that side of the hospital premises. Nervously he scanned the faux light over the face he believed was in front of him. His overwhelming fear became a reality as he looked down onto Naruto's unconscious face. Shocked and bewildered at seeing his friend like that, Sasuke found his voice to snap the blonde to attention at his presence.

"Dobe! Oi! Wake up!" Sasuke shook Naruto's leg in panic after Naruto didn't stir at his abrupt scolding. Quickly the raven fumbled for his phone to call Jiraiya's cell number with one hand, while he felt around for Naruto's pulse with trembling fingers with the other.

"You better not die on me you idiot!" he growled to himself right before he heard Jiraiya's voice come on the line.

"Did you find him?" the frazzled man asked anxiously.

"Yeah, I've got him here with me outside the doors of the boiler room, but he's not moving or saying anything!" Sasuke reported in shaking tone.

"We're on our way! Don't leave his side, Sasuke! Whatever you do don't abandon him until we get there!" Jiraiya instructed before he ended the call. Sasuke could feel the sting racing through him after hearing Jiraiya's derrogative remark to him. He knew he deserved having those words said to him, but it hurt hearing them all the same.

Looking down at Naruto once again, Sasuke decided to check his pulse on his wrist. As he slowly raised the limp appendage, he felt something wet touching his skin. Thinking at first that it might have been water from a puddle nearby, a feeling of panic over took him when the next thought came to his mind. Quickly he used the flashlight on his Iphone. As the blaring light exposed the crimson liquid, Sasuke became frightened.

"Dobe what did you do to yourself? Are you planning to checkout early?" he shouted as he quickly tore off a piece of Naruto's hospital gown as a way of trying to stop the bleeding. "You think you can just give up like that? You don't care that I might miss you when you're gone, you stupid!" he continued ranting as he frantically tied the strip of cloth around Naruto's wrist.

Seeing that he wasn't responding even after being yelled at a second time, Sasuke started to really get worried. "Wake up! Oi, dobe! Stop clowning around, your joke has gone far enough! Open your eyes, will ya! Naruto, this isn't funny any more!" Sasuke reprimanded as he frantically reached in to feel the artery pulse on Naruto's neck.

No pulsation.

Not knowing what else he could do, Sasuke laid Naruto down straight on his back, and gently bent his neck back so that he could start CPR on him. Two breaths and thirty chest compressions were needed to jump start the blonde's heart again. Wanting to put a cloth over Naruto's mouth at first, Sasuke realized that he wasn't getting any air because the material was still too thick. Being very reluctant but knowing that he needed to breathe oxygen back into Naruto's lungs, Sasuke clamped his own mouth over Naruto's and blew two strong breaths into his lungs.

Naruto's chest rose and fell, but he still wasn't breathing on his own, so Sasuke got ready to start the chest compressions. Just as he was about to press down below Naruto's sternum, the medic team arrived along with Jiraiya. "He's not breathing, I was just about to start compressions!" Sasuke explained as he moved out of the way to allow the medics to take over. As soon as they saw Naruto's condition, they knew he was in critical condition.

"Clear!" the medic called out before placing the medical heart pads over Naruto's chest. Jiraiya was beside himself when all he could see was that Naruto had cut his wrist.

"Dear God, where did the kid find something to hurt himself with! There was no knives available in his hospital room and..." but just then a police officer pushed through the boiler room doors.

"We found a box cutter that has traces of blood on the blade!" the cop announced. Both Sasuke's and Jiraiya's heart jumped into their throats. Jiraiya's eyes bulged and then instantly filled with tears.

"Naruto!" he shouted as the distraught man mindlessly rushed toward his ailing nephew. The medics saw the older man approaching and one of the team members did her best to ward him off from coming any closer.

"You'll have to stay back, sir!" she warned as she tried stopping his weighty frame from getting any nearer to the stretcher.

"I have to see my boy! I'm his only relative and he needs to know that I'm here for him! Naruto you hang on, I'm here, kid! I'm right here!" he shouted as the medics quickly lifted Naruto's stretcher into the back of the ambulance that had just arrived from the other side of the hospital grounds.

Sasuke couldn't think straight. _What had just happened? Had he been the cause of all of this? Was he the reason why Naruto ran away and tried killing himself?"_ Unable to think clearly he rushed away from the scene and kept running until he got in his car. _No way! He didn't just see the dobe lying in his arms unconscious with blood pouring out of his wrist! It was too much to even think about. _Turning the ignition over, the raven peeled out of the parking lot and started heading toward the only person who could give him comfort...and that was none other than Sakura.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 of Erased From Existence**

Naruto was brought to the ICU immediately on the psychiatric ward of the hospital. Jiraiya sat by his side all night, and during one of the early hours of the morning he started to nod off when he heard someone softly calling out to him.

"Uzumaki San, there's a young lady who is asking special permission to visit your nephew. I told her that only family was allowed, but she insisted that I ask you first sir." a gentle natured nurse explained.

Raising his head up from having pressed it against his crooked elbow teetering on Naruto's bed rail, Jiraiya struggled to open his eyes wider. "Did she say who she was?" he managed to groggily ask.

"Yes, sir she told me her name was Hinata Hyuga." the nurse replied. Jiraiya snapped to full alertness after hearing that unlikely name.

"Did you say, Hinata Hyuga, you mean one of the Hyugas of Hyuga Optics Corporation?" Jiraiya reiterated. The nurse gave a puzzling expression before answering.

"I believe she might be the same Hyuga. Would you like to come out and talk to her? Your nephew really shouldn't have any visitations from non family members at this time, but if you say it's okay, then she'll be allowed to visit him." the nurse informed.

"I'll meet with her. Where is she?" Jiraiya curiously asked as he stumbled out of his bed side chair.

"She's waiting right outside of these doors, sir." the nurse politely shared as she opened the tan wooden slabs. As Jiraiya walked through them, there was Hinata waiting patiently for Naruto's guardian to approach her closer. When Hinata laid her eyes on the scruffy older man she immediately stood up in deep respect of his status over her.

"Hinata, why are you here? It has to be around three thirty in the morning." Jiraiya announced. Being very elegant, Hinata only bowed sheepishly.

"Forgive me Master Uzumaki but I came to see Naruto many hours earlier after he hurt his shoulder several days ago. I was unable to visit him then so I came tonight. They told me that he was no longer where he was before, and only after having my father grill the hospital staff did I find out that Naruto was moved to this floor." Hinata explained.

Jiraiya looked the beautiful girl over and tried his hardest to figure her out. "So why would you go to such great lengths to see my Naruto? Why not just wait to see him tomorrow or whenever friends are allowed to visit him? Why would you be here at this early in the morning? It doesn't make sense." the prudent man asked.

Hinata became flustered quickly. She had rehearsed her lines so perfectly that she felt she was ready to answer any question that Jiraiya might ask her. But now that she was in the moment of that happening, she froze with fear and only wanted to dart into the elevator. "I'm so very sorry for disturbing you and Naruto. I don't know what got into me. You're right I should just wait until visiting hours are available. Please excuse me, Master Uzumaki." she repetitively apologized before rushing down the hall.

Jiraiya was beside himself. "Wait! I didn't mean that you had to go!" he shouted as he watched the nervous girl disappear as the elevator doors closed together.

The next day came and Naruto had woken up. He was non responsive and didn't want to have anything to do with the nursing staff or his uncle. "Get away from me and leave me alone!" he demanded feeling miserable.

"Naruto you have to try and eat something! You need to keep your strength up!" Jiraiya shouted back as he tried hard to spoon a helping of miso soup into his reluctant nephew's mouth.

"Didn't you hear me old man! I don't want the soup!" Naruto shouted with irritation as he pushed the spoon away from himself. After seeing his nephew's display, Jiraiya returned the metal utensil to the white ceramic bowl.

While still scowling, Naruto wanted to get at the real manner at hand. "Why don't you just say it, old man! Why can't you just say what you're really thinking!" Naruto shot back. But Jiraiya didn't want to be reminded of Naruto's attempted suicide and especially not to hear it from him, himself.

"I'm going home to sleep a while. I'll be back later today and..." but Naruto wouldn't let Jiraiya finish his sentence.

"Say it! Why can't you say it! If you don't then I will!" Naruto warned.

"Naruto don't do this now! You need to rest and..." Jiraiya tried informing.

"I don't want to rest! I want answers! I'm tired of everyone brushing me off and not caring about me! I was..." but he never got to finished because Jiraiya purposely butted in.

"Don't do this now, Naruto! I know you need me to hear you out, but I just can't! I'm sorry! I can't!" Jiraiya apologized as he quickly got up from his chair and rushed to exit through Naruto's hospital room door. Naruto was shocked that once again he was being ignored. All the anger, the pain, the embarrassment flooded over him and he could only holler out in his own defense.

"Fine, just go then! Who needs you! Where were you old man when they were hurting me! Huh! Where was anyone!" Naruto vented to make sure that Jiraiya could hear him all the way down the hall. With a perplexed expression on his face, Jiraiya stumbled his way into the elevator, and once the doors were closed he bawled his eyes out after feeling helpless while listening to his nephew vent his pain.

Naruto didn't want to hear anyone talking about themselves in front of him. It was always about their needs, and their concerns. What about him? Why wasn't anyone there for him? Even trying to escape his own existence, he had failed miserably at succeeding. His attempt to take his life was a complete disaster. The fact that he had found the strength to leave his hospital room, sneak down the stairwell until he reached the very bottom floor was in itself an accomplishment, so he had thought at the time. His shoulder burned from the exertion he was putting on it, but this was the best thing for him to do after being rejected by his so called best friend so quickly.

Why didn't Sasuke listen? He said he would? But then when the raven had found out what he had done in the states, the teme had dissed him so quickly. Not understanding why Sasuke was so smug, Naruto tried hard to fight the tears that were welling up in his eyes once again. "Stupid teme! You were suppose to be my friend!" Naruto shouted right before a woman dressed casually walked into his room and smiled.

"Hi Naruto, how have you been?" she asked as if she had seen him in only the last few days. Naruto grimaced at seeing her cheery expression.

"What are you doing here?" he asked rudely.

"Can't you at least call me by my name?" she asked as she pulled up a chair and sat next to the sulking blonde.

"Ku-re-nai! There, are you happier now!" he vented. The wavy long brunette haired female only chuckled at her previous patient's antics.

"Oh Naruto in all these years, you still haven't changed a bit." she joked. Naruto didn't think she was funny in the least.

"Why are you here? You better not think that I'm going back to the hospital because I won't go!" he shouted in protest.

"You tell me. Do you think you need to revisit us for awhile?" she asked flippantly. Naruto knew something was definitely up.

"Did my uncle call you? Does he want to finally get rid of me! That pervy old man! I knew all the time that he never really wanted me to live with him!" the fuming blonde conjured up in his mind.

"It wasn't Jiraiya who called me. It was your doctor at this hospital. So you tell me, why is your wrist all bandaged up?" she asked in using her reverse psychology methods.

"Oh, no! You're not going to get me with that one!"Naruto chuckled in arrogance.

"Do you think I'm tricking you Naruto?" Kurenai asked curiously.

"I know about your mind games, and they don't work on me anymore!" Naruto announced in faux confidence. Kurenai pressed the play button on her recording application on her IPhone 5. She knew that she had to be very discreet in her way of gathering information from this fragile boy in front of her. Naruto was an exceptional case that had to be handled very delicately.

The number of sexual assults that that boy had to endure between the ages of eight to eleven were too many to count. It was extraordinary that the boy had held up this long. Most kids who went through what he did, would have been escaping with drugs and alcohol, or worse just killing themselves. But Naruto was still surviving enough to try and live a normal life.

"I'm not playing mind games with you Naruto. You should know that I wouldn't do that with you. But I am very concerned as to what triggered you to want to slice your wrist? Did something bad happen recently?" she asked with genuine concern. Naruto studied the pretty woman's face.

"Nah, I'm not going to tell you anything unless you get me something I want first." he informed.

"This sounds interesting. What did you have in mind?" Kurenai replied.

"It will cost you." Naruto giddly spoke. The fact that the broken boy was even laughing after slicing a box cutter blade through his wrist was a sign of hope.

"How will it cost me? Literally? With money?" she asked curiously. Naruto put on his sheepish grin.

"Yup." he announced with a starry gaze as he kept seeing the item that he wanted so badly dancing in front of his mind's eye.

"Okay, I'll bite. What is it that you want so badly?" she asked and without giving it another thought the answer came to her as soon as Naruto announced it out loud in unison with her.

"Ramen". they both said together. Naruto looked over at Kurenai with a surprised expression right before he beamed his beautiful smile.

"I should have known that's what you were talking about." she replied with a heavy sigh.

"You're right, you should have known. That's all I ever asked for you to buy me when I lived at the facility, remember?" Naruto happily reminded.

"How could I ever forget. That's all you pestered me for every time you came in my office for a session. So how many bowls do you want to bribe me with this time?" she asked as Kurenai looked on at the amusing teen before her.

"Um...five! No six! I think I can eat six today!"he excitedly informed. Kurenai's eyes bulged.

"Six! You must think that I'm made of money or something!" she pretended in being angered even though the bowl count was much less than what Naruto use to expect for her to buy for him. He use to ask at least up to ten.

"Come on, counselor babe, you have the money and you know you do! Only six and it has to come from..." but Kurenai chimed in at the same time.

"Ichiraku's." they both said together.

"You didn't forget me after all." Naruto voiced but then he started an onset of crying which caught Kurenai off guard.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Kurenai asked with surprise as her former patient kept wiping at his eyes.

"Forget the whole thing! I don't want the ramen anymore!" Naruto shouted. Kurenai was trying her hardest to understand what was running through the blonde's mind.

"Why? I was going to buy you the noodles! I was only joking, it's not a problem for me." she calmly explained.

Naruto could only keep the thoughts that endlessly raced through his head as he fought hard to supress the flood of emotions that continued surging up inside of him. He didn't want to deal with all the conflicting feelings that he desperately wanted to push back down deep within him. But this simple act of Kurenai remembering his taste for ramen had triggered all the muck that was still contaminating his soul.

"Just go!" Naruto demanded before he slunk down further in his bed and turned to face the other way. Not wanting to make the distraught teen any more upset than he already was, Kurenai thought it was best to leave.

As the day wore on, Jiraiya, Shikamaru, and Kiba paid Naruto a visit, and when they approached his bedside they weren't prepared for what they saw. There Naruto was, in a deep sedation and both of his arms in a safety harness. Jiraiya didn't know what had occurred to have Naruto be in such a situation, but he wanted answers and he wanted them now.

"What did you do to my nephew? Why is he in that get up?" the agitated man asked a nurse. The same quiet speaking RN approached him. "We tried to notify you sir that Naruto had an episode and that he tried reopening the wound on his wrist." she explained. The information was being told to Jiraiya in private. When the old man heard what had transpired, he became stressed.

"He tried to cut himself again! Where were the nurses while this was going on? Aren't you people suppose to watch these kids around the clock!" he ranted until another more assertive nurse butted into the conversation.

"Mr. Uzumaki your nephew went beserk in a matter of minutes, and I can reassure you that all my nursing staff did what they could to calm the boy down." she explained with authority.

"That still doesn't tell me what happened! Why did he try to hurt himself again? He was doing okay and..." but the assertive nurse chimed in.

"With all do respect sir, but that is what you wanted to believe. I can tell you that your nephew is far from okay. He's in alot of pain, and no matter how kind any of us are, or how much attention we shower him with, if he's feeling the pain deep inside of himself, then nothing we do is going to have any effect on the boy." she informed. Jiraiya looked at the nurse and then over at Naruto.

"What kind of hell did you really go through over there, kid?" he quietly said out loud as Naruto's trickle of drool streamed out of the corner of his mouth and onto his pillow.

Naruto wasn't thinking about anything now in his deep medicated sleep, but earlier right before the male nurse stuck the needle into his arm, he was thrashing around aggressively tearing at his bandaged wrist. _"I should have done it right the first time, then I wouldn't have to think about this crap all the time! I've got to open it up one more time and you can't stop me!" he shouted as two female nurses and male student nurse tried hard to calm the hysteric blonde down._

_"Naruto, you can't do this to yourself man, it's not going to solve anything!" the college male nurse major shouted as he tried pulling Naruto's other hand away from torn gauze that the desperate teen was still ripping at._

_"It's not that easy to forget, man! When you've been through what I had to go through, you get to a point where you just don't care about anything anymore!" he cried out right before he felt the stinging prick of the slender needle being inserted into his skin._

One day later, Naruto finally woke up and none other than Sasuke was sitting in a chair on a side wall surfing on his Iphone. Naruto grimaced at seeing the Uchiha first thing. "What are you doing here? I thought it made you sick to look at me." Naruto sarcastically announced. Sasuke looked up from his screen and chuckled.

"Yeah right, like that should be the main thing weighing on your mind at the moment." he sneered, Naruto only frowned at the cutting remark.

"What can I say, I'm a live-on-the-edge-kind-of-guy. Why are you here? Shouldn't you be doing more important things now that you know the truth about me?" Naruto tried saying with confidence, but his shakey tone could be heard, and his eyes started tearing again. Sasuke only stared at his friend. Naruto didn't have a clue what had happened in the past few days, and he didn't need to know either. His state was too fragile for him to be upset over anything. Even Sasuke knew to back off in his friend's current state. Wanting only to spend some time with Naruto, the raven put up with the dobe's babble over nothing. One thing was for sure, Naruto always rambled over useless talk.

"Did you eat anything?" Sasuke finally asked cutting Naruto off in mid sentence.

"...that's just so funny how things worked out and...huh?" Naruto responded once he realized that Sasuke had said anything at all.

"I said did you eat anything?" the raven asked again with a slight irritation this time in his tone. Naruto looked at the Uchiha and suddenly felt confused.

"What is it with you? One minute you can't stand to be around me and the next you're asking if I had anything to eat? Why do you even care? You don't have a clue what happened after you ditched me yesterday! So I wouldn't..." but Sasuke then interrupted.

"I don't?" the raven asked with attitude.

"No you don't! I left the hospital because I couldn't stand how you treated me! But do you care? No you don't! I might as well have offed myself and..." but then Sasuke gritted his teeth before getting ready to blast the blonde.

"Urusai! I don't know what happened to you? So I suppose I don't know about you going through the boiler room, cutting yourself with a box cutter knife, and almost dying in my arms right!" Sasuke shouted. His eyes were full of pain as he choked out the next words. Naruto sat up dumbfounded as he listened and was unable to say another word.

"You stopped breathing and blood was everywhere! I did what I could to keep you alive, Naruto! You idiot! You had everyone worried to death after you were sent up here, and it was a few days ago that that happened, not yesterday!...Naruto, I shouldn't have walked out on you the way I did, but I was so shocked by what you told me I didn't know how to react! I should have listened and I didn't! But what you did!" Sasuke continued scolding.

"Sasuke." Naruto managed to say in between the raven's venting.

"You just decided it would be better to check out all together! How could you be so selfish!" Sasuke yelled which in turn caused Naruto to go on the defense.

"I did it because no one cares about me! I have no friends, my mind is a mess, and I thought it would be better if I..." but Sasuke was ready to punch Naruto.

"You have no friends? What am I? What is Shikamaru? Kiba? Hinata, and Shino? You don't see us as your friends?" the raven interrogated.

Even though Sasuke wasn't anywhere near him, it felt like the raven had just slapped him across the face. "I don't know, teme. I...just don't feel your friendship around me." Naruto quietly admitted as he dropped his head down. For the first time, Sasuke could see the literal expression of pain written all over Naruto's body. He had been putting on a good act for many years, but the truth was finally showing itself.

Naruto, looked at the restraints on his arms and started tugging at them. He wanted out of there. Even though Sasuke was right in front of him, he couldn't comprehend the genuineness of the Uchiha's friendship or anybody else's for that matter. Needing to be alone, Naruto kept his head down as he got ready to speak.

"I think you should go." he announced. After hearing those words, a sting raced through Sasuke's body.

"You really want me to?" he asked as if he was giving the blonde a second chance to recounter his words.

"Yeah, I do." Naruto said again without once lifting his head.

"Fine, then I will." Sasuke replied as he got up from his chair and started walking toward the door. But right before exiting through the archway, he turned to say one last thing to Naruto.

"Don't think you can get rid of me or push me out of your life so easily. I might not say the right thing, or act the way you'd like me to, but I'll always be your friend, no matter what...Dobe." he finished off saying before finally leaving.

Naruto just sat silent as tears overflowed from his eyes. After a long silent crying spell, he finally snapped out of his depressed mood, gritted his teeth in realizing that he was still confound by the restraints on his arms. Seeing a nurse walk by, he put forth the best bad attitude front that he could muster and then shouted out his demand.

"Oi nurse lady, take these straps off my arms now!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks Maxridelover for all your chapter reviews and continuous support of this story and to all who also support this story :)**

**Chapter 4 of Erased From Existence**

The following week, Naruto came home from the hospital. He stayed mostly in his room even though Jiraiya tried everything to get his nephew to stay active. Seeing that it was a Friday night, he thought he would suggest for Naruto and him to eat out somewhere.

"Naruto why don't we have pizza tonight. We haven't gone to a restaurant in a long time and I thought we could..."but Naruto cut his uncle off.

"I don't feel like it." he mumbled before throwing the faux metal kunai at the plastic target on his orange wall in front of his bed that he was laying on.

"Let's just go this once. It will do you good to get out of the house and..." but Naruto was livid at this point.

"What part of "I don't want to go" didn't you understand old man!" Naruto shouted as he made another bull's-eye on the target board. Even though Jiraiya was not accepting his nephew's attitude, he didn't want to cause anymore unrest for the teen, so he walked out of the room quietly, and closed Naruto's door to go to his own room to make a phone call.

Sasuke was hanging out with Sakura, Ino, Kiba, Shikamaru and Hinata at the bowling alley of all places. Bored out of his mind as he watched his perky pink headed girlfriend jumping up and down with glee for her team of girls getting another strike.

"That's two strikes so far, and only one more to go and we win against the guys!" she happily cheered. Hinata only quietly celebrated their victory while Ino was joining her over excited friend in their jumping circle.

Needing to get some fresh air, Sasuke stepped outside, when he saw Jiraiya's phone number lighting up on his home screen.

"Yeah?" Sasuke answered.

"I need a favor from you." Jiraiya began.

"How's he doing?" Sasuke asked with concern, even though he hadn't been in touch with Naruto since that day in the hospital.

"He's not good Sasuke. He wasn't good before, but now that he's back home, he doesn't want to leave the house and he spends most of his time in his bedroom." the older man explained with worry.

"What do you want me to do? If he isn't going to respond to you, what makes you think that he will listen to me?" Sasuke asked with worry and slight irritation.

"What are you doing right now?" Jiraiya asked.

"I'm at the bowling alley with my girlfriend, and a few of my friends, why?" Sasuke questioned.

"Listen Sasuke, there's someone that I think likes Naruto and he might like her as well. I don't know who you hang out with, but maybe you know a Hinata Hyuga in your grade?" Jiraiya announced which raised the raven's curiosity.

"Hinata, yeah I know her. In fact she's here with us now." Sasuke shared. Then Jiraiya got an idea.

"Is there any way that you could come get Naruto and take him out with you guys tonight so he could maybe talk to Hinata? He needs to get out of this place and be with his friends." Jiraiya suggested. Sasuke's eyes widened.

"You want me to get Naruto and Hinata around each other somehow? I'm not into playing matchmaker." he bluntly informed.

"Just this once, kid. Trust me when I say that they like each other." Jiraiya replied. Sasuke thought a minute and then looked back into where Hinata was sitting and then gave Jiraiya his answer.

"Okay I'll try. But don't expect too much." he shared before ending their phone call.

Sasuke went back into the bowling alley and walked over to his friends before leaving. "I'll be right back, you guys keep playing." he instructed as he grabbed his navy blue hoodie.

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked with slight suspicion and a lot of curiosity.

"I'll be right back, go ahead without me." he told everyone before walking out of the front glass doors and out to his black Mitsubishi. When Sasuke arrived at Naruto's house he looked up at his bedroom window and it was pitch black inside. Quietly Sasuke walked into the front door and looked around for Jiraiya. He found him at the kitchen table eating some instant ramen and drinking Sake.

"Is he in his bedroom?" Sasuke asked as he approached the stupor man closer. Jiraiya turned to look at the raven before grabbing his Sake bottle once more to pour himself another drink.

"Oh, Sasuke, you're here. Go straight up, Naruto will be there still." he slurred before gulping down the smooth liquid. Sasuke only rolled his eyes at the pathetic man's state. Next he worked his way up the blue carpeted stairs to Naruto's bedroom door which was shut. Not knowing if he should just open it, or knock, he opted for the first choice. As the door swung open, no light escaped out into the hall. The raven walked in further and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness before he started reaching for the light switch.

"Don't turn it on." Naruto instructed. Sasuke turned his head in the direction of the blonde's voice.

"You can't stay in the dark all the time. Get up if you're on the bed." Sasuke replied.

"I don't want to." Naruto stated before the sound of shuffling could be heard from his mattress.

"So you plan to hide away from everyone instead of..."but Naruto wasn't in the mood for one of Sasuke's lectures.

"Just go. No one asked you to come over, so why are you even here?' he asked rudely. Sasuke kept his cool as he got ready to give an answer.

"You need to get out of this place. Be with your friends and grab a bite to eat." the raven announced. Naruto sat up in the dark and started heading toward the door. Sasuke listened as the sound of Naruto's footsteps walked closer toward the hallway.

"My car is parked in front of the house, we'll be going to the bowling alley." the raven informed which didn't get a reaction out of Naruto in the least. Once the blonde was back in the light, Sasuke's eyes widened as what he saw on Naruto's arms.

"You've been cutting yourself?" the raven bluntly asked. Naruto only acted like it was no big deal.

"So what." he nonchalantly remarked as he grabbed his jean jacket and started heading toward the front door. Sasuke followed after him until they were both outside and that's when he realized that asking Naruto to come with him to the bowling alley had been far too easy. As soon as the raven adjusted his eyes, he could see Naruto's silhouette walking quickly away down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. This only peeved Sasuke off.

"Where do you think you're going?" he irritatingly asked as he grabbed ahold of Naruto's jacket.

"Do you mind! I just broke my shoulder not too long ago!" he reminded being majorly perturbed at the moment.

"I don't care what you think, dobe, but you're not walking off on your own into the night." Sasuke calmly informed with a glare. Naruto's entire attitude had changed in just a week's time, and now he could only laugh at Sasuke's so called bad attitude facade that he was showing at the moment.

"Go ahead and tell yourself that. Later." Naruto replied as he shoved his way past the glaring raven. Seconds later, Sasuke walked out in front of Naruto to stop him in his tracks.

"You're not doing this." Sasuke spoke calmly one more time. Naruto was getting annoyed fast.

"Oh but I am." he retorted with smugness as he tried to out manuever Sasuke. The raven knew he had a dilemma on his hands. If he laid his hands on Naruto in the slightest, the pain would surge through the blonde's body and straight up to his shoulder. He didn't want to inflict anymore pain onto Naruto especially physical pain. As his friend kept walking past him, he surrendered defeat in being able to stop Naruto. But giving it one more shot, he called out another comment.

"The bowling alley has really good ramen there. It's been quite a while since you've eaten any, ne?"

As much as he wanted to, he could never refuse a good bowl of ramen. Kurenai would have brought him six bowls worth, but he had lost it emotionally. Now he could make up for that mistake.

"Only if you're buying." Naruto replied. Sasuke chuckled.

"I'm buying." he repeated and then felt a feeling of relief as he quickened his pace to catch up to the dobe.

When they both arrived at the bowling alley, Naruto's facial expression changed when he discovered that some of his classmates were there also by spotting them through the outside picture window. "You didn't say they'd be here." he nervously shared as both he and Sasuke walked in through the doors.

"I was bowling with them earlier. They'll be glad you're here." the raven shared as both Naruto and he walked into the noisy facility further. Naruto could feel his heart beating double time as he walked past kids he knew of in his grade but of whom he never associated with. The noise of pop music, chatter from friends gathered and families spending quality time on a Friday night, glanced over as Naruto passed by them. Finally Sasuke stopped at a table where Sakura, Shikamaru,Kiba, Ino and Hinata were sitting at.

"Naruto, why are you here?" Sakura rudely blurted out without thinking of how it would sound to her messed up classmate. Naruto felt his face and ears burning as he discovered Hinata staring back at him. Not knowing what he should do, he just allowed his frame to hold him up.

"We've got pizza and soda, help yourself." Kiba offered as Naruto nervously bowed in courtesy.

"Thanks but no thanks." he managed to say. Hinata kept staring at Naruto as her own face felt extremely warm. Finally wanting to say something to the blonde that she had been admiring from afar, she shyly spoke a few words to begin a conversation.

"Hi Naruto." she finished saying. Naruto couldn't help but be flustered.

"Huh?...Oh hi, Hinata." was the only words that stumbled from his lips, and then there was a very long awkward moment of silence between the two. Sasuke was watching and listening, and he felt like his friend was failin miserably.

"So, you're out here tonight." Hinata spoke in her second attempt to start a conversation.

"Yeah. I am." Naruto awkwardly responded and then another uncomfortable moment of silence followed. Naruto looked around and Sasuke got curious.

"What are you looking for?" he asked knowing very well what Naruto was after.

"Ramen. Is the food counter over there?" he asked being his oblivious self as usual. Kiba over heard the conversation and he couldn't help but start laughing.

"Ramen?...Here?" he loudly announced which caused Naruto in turn to glare hard at Sasuke.

"You lied to me?" he asked feeling more angrier than embarrassment. Sasuke stood up at the same time Naruto did, and then got ready to sell his sales pitch.

"Yeah I did. I knew you'd only come if you thought there was..." but Naruto stopped listening and started storming away which caused Sasuke to follow him away from the table.

Sakura, Hinata, Ino, and Shikamaru just watched as both Naruto and Sasuke walked back outside of the bowling alley into the parking lot. Kiba acted like the two estranged friends were over reacting just a little bit. "They left over my teasing?" he asked seeming surprised. Ino turned to the troublemaker and got ready to blast him.

"Baaka! Could you have said it any louder! You know that it's been hard for Naruto after he did that to himself!" the long pony tailed blonde reprimanded.

Kiba felt like a puppy being slapped on the end of his nose for having urinated on a carpet or something. "You can't be mad at me for that! I was only joking around and I..." but then Shikamaru jumped into the conversation.

"You always joke about the wrong thing. My guess is that Sasuke bribed Naruto to come here by making him think that they sold ramen here." he shared.

Hinata couldn't listen any longer, and being suddenly flustered she got up and started walking toward the front door. Ino watched her leave, and then she started acting like she couldn't understand why Hinata left after what she had said. "Now where are you going Hinata?" she called out. Sakura could only grimace at the mess Naruto had made by even showing up. Now everyone was upset and not having any more fun.

"I'll see you guys on Monday!" Hinata tried hollering, but it didn't quite reach the table. As she walked out further into the parking lot she could see and hear Sasuke trying to calm Naruto down.

"What! Is it going to hurt for you to have some pizza and watch us bowl?" he asked angrily.

"I only came for the ramen! I could care less about what you guys want to do! I'm leaving, and don't try and stop me either!" Naruto informed as he started walking further away from the raven.

Hinata had to say it. Naruto was right in front of her, and this was her big chance. But would she be able to go through with it? Seconds existed before Naruto would disappear somewhere in the darkness as he kept walking on the street sidewalk. Could she do it? Would she faint on the spot, or finally have enough courage to open her mouth?

Sasuke started walking faster toward Naruto, and just when the raven was about to catch up to the blonde, he stopped in his tracks as did Naruto when they realized who was calling out. "Ano,...um I...will eat ramen...with you Naruto." she struggled to get out but finally did, as her heart felt like it was going to pound right out of her torso. Both Naruto and Sasuke stood looking at the nervous ebony haired beauty before being able to say anything back.

Finally finding his voice, Naruto struggled in his reply. "Huh?" was all he managed to say. Hinata knew that she needed to say something back, but as she explored for the words to express inside her head, the moment had become surreal to her. This was Naruto, the boy she had loved from afar for many years even before he had left for the states. Now he was standing and waiting for a response from her.

"Ramen. We can eat together?" she choked out which caused Sasuke to huff at the sudden awkwardness of the moment. He wanted Naruto to go back into the bowling alley and not take off with Hinata Hyuga to eat ramen somewhere. The raven could see the instant attraction between the two, and he was reminded of what Jiraiya had told him about the two liking each other.

"Uh...sure...okay." Naruto replied even though he felt suddenly light-headed. Hinata gave a quaint smile even though no one could really see it in the dark, and Sasuke started glaring at Naruto.

"So now you're heading to Ichiraku's? he interrogated as Naruto kept staring at Hinata and totally ignoring that Sasuke was even talking to him. "Oi, dobe, snap out of it!" the raven yelled out. Naruto jumped slightly after hearing Sasuke's loud tone.

"You don't need to yell at me, I heard you the first time!" Naruto shot back while Hinata just stood watching their antics playing out in front of her.

"Hn." Sasuke replied before walking back toward the bowling alley entrance. Naruto looked over at Hinata and got ready to approach her, but then a certain memory from him being in the sex ring flashed before his eyes. He stood looking dazed as he relived the scene out in his head which caused Hinata to become worried fast.

"Naruto?" she asked as he stood with a petrified expression on his face. Seconds later, Naruto bolted off down the sidewalk and Hinata screamed out his name in fear, one more time. "Naruto! Where are you going?" she hollered out with such force, that Sasuke heard her yelling. He had been right next to the opened front door entrance to call Itachi and let him know that he aced the Ninjutsu tournament that they held at Konoha High after school that afternoon. But right as he was waiting for Itachi to pick up, that's when he heard the unlikely scream of Hinata. Immediately he ran out into the parking lot to find out what had happened.

"Did something happen to Naruto?" the raven asked while trying to catch his breath.

"He just ran off! He was thinking about something and then after he looked like he had seen a ghost! I'm worried Sasuke, I don't know why he did that! she began crying. Sasuke didn't have time to dry Hinata's tears, and it wasn't his position to do so. Feeling more concerned about Naruto's fragile state, he bolted off into the darkness to find his friend. Only he knew what Naruto had been through, and that was just in general. The nightmare that Naruto lived was rearing it's ugly head at the most unpredictable times.

_Could the dobe talking to the girl he liked, set him off like this?" _the raven asked himself as he kept running and looking for any sign of Naruto. Sasuke wanted answers, but more so, he wanted to find his idiot friend and make sure he was alright.

Naruto had kept running without even knowing where he even was. The memory was too frightening for him to think straight. The hands, the sensual groans mixed with his youthful cries. He wanted the painful scenes to stop playing out in his head. Because his adrenaline had risen he couldn't feel any discomfort on his shoulder-blade as he kept jogging toward anywhere. Suddenly he heard the blaring sound of a horn and glanced at a blinding light in his eyes.

Screech!

The Toyota SUV came to a holt just as Naruto felt himself being yanked by the arm, and almost lifted airborne off from his black and white Nike sneakers from a forceful pull over to the side of the road. Quickly Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and started freaking out as soon as he realized how close he came to dying. The woman driver sprang from her vehicle to see if Naruto was alright. Naruto was on the ground with Sasuke supporting him from the back as he continued shaking.

"Oh honey, are you okay?" the woman asked as she clopped her way over to the shaken blonde. When she bent down in front of Naruto she held her worried expression until Naruto opened his mouth.

"Where did you learn to drive, Granny!" he shouted as he struggled to get back on his feet. The sweet countenance that the pig tailed strawberry blonde haired woman held, instantly dissolved as she contorted her facial muscles into a grimace and her eyes shot out flames.

"Granny!...Why you little brat!" she roared as she lost herself in rage and got ready to hit the arrogant teen on the head. Sasuke saw what was about to go down, and with lightening speed he intervened.

"He's an idiot. Hitting him won't phase him in the least." the raven announced which made the woman stop in her tracks. Looking first at Naruto, and then over at Sasuke, she calmed down and pulled her frame back up to balance on the lime green heeled sandals that adorned her feet.

"You ungrateful little!...Well as long as you're not hurt, then I'll get going." she mumbled before turning to go toward her Toyota. Naruto tried sneaking off while Sasuke watched the woman get back into the driver's seat and drive away. When Sasuke turned his head around to look at Naruto, he was limping off into the darkness. Once again, Sasuke growled at what a menace Naruto could be when he held his stubborn streak.

"Would you hold up!" Sasuke called out as he quickened his pace to walk next to Naruto.

"Get lost, teme. I don't need you following me everywhere I go!" the blonde vented as he stopped to glare Sasuke in the face.

"You're wrong about that. You can barely survive out here at night-time and if I hadn't grabbed ahold of you..." but Naruto who was livid and cut him off.

"Who asked you to? Huh! Who asked you to rescue me!" he shouted in anger. Sasuke just stared at the pain oozing out of every poor in Naruto's skin. All his shouting, all of his bad attitude was a front to masquerade his true feelings as the raven only listened to more of Naruto's ranting.

"Don't you get it, I want to be left alone! I can't take this anymore! Just stop trying to help me all the time, it's too much!" Naruto hollered right before a city bus drove up to a nearby bus stop, and Naruto got on it to go back home.

* * *

A few months went by and Jiraiya thought it was best to send Naruto back to the psychiatric youth hospital. Naruto was very adamant about going, to the point that two resident counselors along with Kurenai had to come to Naruto's house and force him to go. Now he was in the rec room lounge and the staff was on high alert that Naruto might try to sneak off and hurt himself if he was left alone. He had tried cutting himself two times already. His roommate was a long time resident, named Sai. He was a fantastic artist and he tried to get Naruto to open up to him through painting, but the stubborn blonde wouldn't budge.

As Naruto looked around the room to see who was doing what, he got ready to make a mad dash for the hall without realizing that he was top priority on all the staff's radar. As soon as he stood up, Asuma burly man who liked smoking alot took the cigarette out of his mouth and got ready to interrogate. "Oi, Naruto, where are you going?" he asked with suspicion.

"Can't I take a crap without you tailgating me? Or have you been given your orders to watch me do my business too?" he sarcastically called out. Asuma only chuckled at how Naruto had really changed. When he had been there before, he was a pest that never shut up. His blonde locks were pointy with tons of gel to make them stand on their ends. But now, his hair was lax with a little bit of bounce to it. It came down to his shoulders and he had grown tall. He stood now around almost six feet, but he had lost alot of weight. Not emaciated, but he held a heavy metal rocker's frame that caused him to constantly pull his loose-fitting faded denim jeans over his feminine looking waistline.

Not caring about the people there, or the rules of the stupid place, Naruto sauntered off down the hall towards the men's bathroom. Once inside, pulled off his sock on his left foot, and inside the crevice between his little toe and fourth digit, he ripped off a very small plastic package of cocaine that he had taped there. Saving a coffee stirrer from breakfast he pulled out a blank folded piece of paper from his pocket that he had, and got ready to snort the powder in a kneeling position on the beige tiled floor.

Once he came back out of the bathroom, Iruka Umino, another one of the floor counselors along with a security officer were waiting for Naruto out in the hall. The blond was spacing as he could barely make out who was in front of him. "Naruto, I don't have any choice, but I have to call the police. You broke our rules using drugs here." Iruka informed. Naruto started laughing in the authoritative man's face.

"Oi, whatever makes you feel good about yourself, man! You and your rules! You can all die for all I care! What haven't I experienced? Why not add jail to the mix as well! Go ahead arrest me! I...don't...care! You piece of...but then another staff member grabbed Naruto roughly by the back of the neck and walked him into a side room until the cops arrived.

Iruka felt horrible for turning the teen in, but he knew he had no other choice. Naruto was using hard drugs on the premises and that was absolutely not tolerated. As Naruto waited for what would happen to him next, Iruka made a phone call to Jiraiya.

"...I'm really sorry about this, Master Jiraiya but Naruto took it too far this time." he sadly continued with his apology and explanation.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 of Erased From Existence**

When Jiraiya arrived at the Konoha Youth Psychiatric Hospital he started begging Iruka to give Naruto another chance. "Iruka, please! You of all people know what Naruto has been through! I didn't know it had led to drugs, but the cutting, depression, and rebellious behaviour are all because of the trauma he has been through! Isn't there any kind of deal we can make to keep Naruto out of jail? He'll never survive in there!" Jiraiya explained hoping that he could plead his case. Iruka looked perplexed as he shuffled through past file folders on Naruto in his office.

"I can't make an exception. I know that Naruto has been through too much, but it isn't fair to lessen Naruto's crime just because he was in that horrific place. I have a duty to uphold here, and I just can't..." but Jiraiya was persistent.

"There has to be some kind of leniency on a minor right? What if Naruto comes home with me, but wears one of those anklet monitors? Would that work? I really want him back home, and not going to jail or worse." Jiraiya suggested. Knowing how much it meant to keep Naruto out of the judicial system as much as possible, Iruka weakened and gave in to the adamant man's requests.

"Fine." I won't send him to jail, but he will be signed a probation officer, and he will have to check in with her for the next two months. I don't know if a house arrest monitoring ankle bracelet is necessary, but for now, you can take him home. He'll meet Tsunade tomorrow." Iruka shared. After hearing that name, Jiraiya's face lit up like a school boy milling over his first crush.

"Did you say Tsunade? You don't mean the first mayor, Hirashima Senju's grand-daughter!" Iruka looked stunned at the surprise Jiraiya's face held.

"Yes, that's her. Do you know her?" he asked further. Jiraiya couldn't help but blush and beam at the same time.

"Know her? We practically were boyfriend and girlfriend in high school. Well if that don't beat all. Tsunade, working as a probation officer for troubled youth." Jiraiya announced out loud. While his uncle was reminiscing over youthful days, Naruto was getting fed up with being locked in a room where everything looked distorted.

"Oi! Counselor man! When are Konoha's finest coming to read me my rights!" he shouted out. The cocaine was working and making everything seem to be hay wiry. Iruka heard Naruto's venting and he raced toward the room to calm the upset teen down.

"Naruto! Be quiet! Your uncle is here and I agreed to let you go home but starting tomorrow you'll have a probation officer assigned to you. Also you will be admitted to the other section of the center to get treatment." Iruka informed. Naruto didn't like hearing that said to him.

"You're crazy if you think I'm staying in this place for anymore treatment! You guys were the ones who gave me the drugs in the first place! What kind of a place are you running around here anyways!" he embarrassingly shouted which made Iruka want to shut the squawking kid up fast.

"Keep your voice down! We'll do an investigation and find out who sold you those drugs. But for now..." but Naruto was so out of it that he started chuckling at Iruka's demise.

"I already know who did it, but do you think I'm going to squeal and get my face bashed in?" You're really stupid if you think I would do that!" Naruto shouted again as he tried walking toward the door to leave. But Iruka did his best to block the stumbling blonde.

"You can't leave just yet, Naruto. Jiraiya is coming in to talk to you, and if you're in this bad of shape, you might be spending another night here! Now keep quiet until the drugs start wearing off or..." but Naruto was too out of it to listen to any rules.

"Dolphin man! That's a new name for ya! I'm feeling great! Where's my uncle! Pervy man! Where are you! Can't you hear me! Oi, Pervy man, hurry up and get me out of here!" Naruto shouted while the tears kept falling from Jiraiya's eyes as Naruto draped himself all over Iruka who was pushing Naruto bak as he struggled to pound on the door's window.

Naruto had finally reached a pinnacle where everything he had experienced was finally breaking him down. Before, he avoided social interaction, but now he was using hard drugs to escape the hellish nightmare that he went through. Not caring how boistrous he was being, or what was flying out of his mouth, Naruto continued shouting out obscenities. "You can't get away with what you did to me! I hate you old man! You hear me! I hate you! You left me there! You did nothing, and left me there!" he shouted out as he now tried pounding on Iruka.

Needing back up immediately, Iruka pressed a button on his walkie-talkie. "Oi, get in room three now! I need emergency assistance fast!" he shouted in his speaker right before he felt the impact of hard knuckles slamming into his mouth. Minutes later, two strong male orderlies were pulling Naruto off from the dazed counselor. Iruka couldn't believe the brute force that came from Naruto, even though he had taken the cocaine. It had been really foolish to think that he could handle the drugged up teen on his own. Never did he think that Naruto would attack him, but he found out how wrong he was.

"Get off from me! Don't touch me!...I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to me! Leave me alone!" he continued shouting as he out weighed the two orderlies who were struggling to hold Naruto down. Being so full of adrenaline, Naruto got away from the two brawny men, but not for long. Crazed out of his mind as to who was chasing him down, he started parcouring around the small room jumping onto a desk, and then walking across a wooden book-case full of reading material. Iruka tried to stop Naruto as did the orderlies and finally all three grabbed Naruto and pulled him down onto the floor.

Thrashing around violently as flashbacks of being forced to the ground filled his mind, Naruto eventually had to surrender to being put into restraints. "I don't want to do this! Please don't make me do this!" he kept shouting as one of the orderlies opened the door and grabbed a hall stretcher to put Naruto onto. The blonde kept crying and squirming as Iruka and the remaining orderlie fastened him down. As soon as he was secure and no longer a threat to himself or anyone else, they quickly started wheeling Naruto towards the hospital section of the facility for admittance.

Jiraiya rushed after the gurney, as did Iruka. Both men were frazzled with what they had just witnessed and heard, especially Iruka. Naruto needed help desperately. At sixteen he was falling apart, and only getting worse. Knowing that this might happen to his nephew someday, Jiraiya wasn't prepared for the full impact of what was taking place.

"I'm sorry Naruto! Please forgive me, kid! I didn't know! I didn't know!" he kept shouting until Iruka stopped the older man in his tracks.

"That's enough Jiraiya. Naruto doesn't hear what you're saying, and this isn't the time, besides." Iruka shared. Jiraiya was beyond himself as he thought back on how he didn't try hard enough to get Naruto out of the hell he was living. He was a lush back then and in no shape to help Naruto. His sister had died tragically, along with his brother-in-law, and he didn't want to believe that his nephew was really in some sex ring.

His drinking blurred his mind from accepting the severity of the situation. The kid was probably in a sweat shop doing some kind of forced labor, but never did he think the kind of forced labor he was performing was sexual. Now for the last five years, Jiraiya was blaming himself for not getting his nephew out of the hell corner sooner. His once sweet spiky blonde who beamed happiness everywhere he went, was now drowning mercilessly in a cess pool of nightmares in his teen years.

Having Naruto taking drugs, being inactive socially, and becoming more rebellious was only frightening Jiraiya. Naruto needed someone to reach out to him someone of whom he wouldn't blame. Would it be Hinata, or maybe someone from the center? Could Naruto ever heal just a little enough so that he would grow up to be a somewhat happy man who eventually could have a family of his own someday? All thoughts in that direction were here say at the moment. Naruto was in real deep embedded pain and whomever did reach him would end up being some kind of miracle worker. But just who would that person be?

Word got back to Sasuke that Naruto was admitted into the withdrawal ward for drug addicts at the psychiatric center. He was beside himself when he learned from Jiraiya what Naruto had done to himself. "Is he okay? How is he handling the withdrawal process?" the raven asked being extremely worried.

"It's a long process. He's been in there for a day now, and he's literally climbing the padded walls." Jiraiya sadly shared. Sasuke couldn't take another bite of his onigiri that Itachi had made for their breakfast. Needing to settle his stomach that was starting to feel uneasy, the raven took another sip from his cup of steaming green tea before responding.

"He's my friend, but I honestly don't understand him." Sasuke shared. Jiraiya sighed at hearing the young Uchiha sound like he was ready to give up on Naruto.

"Don't desert him, Sasuke. He needs you." Jiraiya finshed saying before ending their call. Sasuke swallowed the last of his tea before chuckling to himself and getting up from the table to go to his car in the garage.

"Naruto needs me. Hn. That's a laugh." the raven chuckled again as he grabbed his keys and headed out to go to school. Meantime Naruto was let out of withdrawal ward and brought to a hospital room at the center. Now almost cleaned out, he sat up in his bed as he got ready to meet his probation officer with reluctance. Feeling very tired still from all the emotional turmoil that he had just been through, he was physically exhausted and less enthused about meeting anyone new at the moment.

Minutes later the sound of clopping sandals could be heard echoing down the corridor. As the clicking of heels impacting against white polished tile drew nearer, Naruto could see two petite opened toed red sling back strapped sandals stop in front of his doorway and begin their entrance.

"Okay we'll get the introductions over with so we can get through this mess that you made for yoursel..."Tsunade rambled on as she looked over her new case's information until she heard the blasted insulting name thrown at her once again.

"Granny! What are you doing in my room!"Naruto accused as he raised his IV arm to point his finger at the honey eyed blonde who stood standing in front of him foaming at the mouth.

"You still dare to call me "'granny!" she raged as she tried her hardest to not split Naruto's bed in half with only the blow of her fist. Naruto started shivering at witnessing the anger seeping out of the growling woman.

"Chill out, gran...uh I mean my monitoring lady! Afterall you almost ran me over the other night. Give a guy a break, will ya?" Naruto sheepishly expressed as he tried to slink down underneath his powder blue bed sheets. Tsunade stood staring at the brash blonde. This was going to be her new charge? Why was God punishing her?

Seeing that she was dealing with a smart mouth kid, Tsunade readjusted herself before doing her best to speak both calmly and professionally to Naruto. "Okay, brat, let's get one thing straight. I am nobody's grandma and never do I want to be one. My name is Tsunade Senju but I'm known as just Tsunade. Not, grandma, old lady or even monitoring lady! Only call me Tsunade, got it!" she yelled by the time she was finished explaining herself. Naruto sheepishly got ready to reply.

"Hee, hee hee, whatever you say, granny, I mean Tsunade grandma!" Naruto nervously cheered knowing that he was going to be yelled at again.

"Na...ru...to! What did I just say!" Tsunade boomed as Naruto continued cowering.

"It's going to take some time grandma! I mean Tsunade Officer!" Naruto tried informing as he now held his pillow up in front of his face to deflect Tsunade's punch from trying to knock his block off.

"Get over here, you little brat! For you to get me this riled! I was trying really hard to be polite but you're making it impossible for me to be nice even when I want to!"

"Come on Granny I didn't mean anything!...Ow! That hurts!" Naruto continued shouting as the nursing staff listened on from out in the hall at the nurse's station.

"Shouldn't we go in there and stop her?" one concerned nurse asked another.

"No don't worry, she won't hurt him, she'll only pretend that she's going to. He'll be fine." she calmly reassured.

"Stop blocking that knuckle head of yours!" Tsunade yelled as she continued trying to hit Naruto with one of his own pillows.

* * *

Over at Konoha High, Sasuke sat in science class thinking about what Jiraiya had said to him. _"Naruto needs you." _Why was that family bothering him with their personal problems? He was Naruto's friend but not his keeper. He had his own life to live and he didn't have time to be spending every waking moment with the dobe. Yeah he knew what Naruto had lived over in the states, but there was nothing else that he could do for him. So why was Jiraiya relying on him so much?

These kind of questions filled Sasuke's head but only left him feeling empty with no concrete answers. Sakura was watching her boyfriend and she was starting to worry about his constant daydreaming over whatever was occupying his thoughts all the time now. She hadn't come right out and asked Sasuke what or who was on his mind, but she had a pretty good idea that it was Naruto.

After that night in the bowling alley, Hinata stopped hanging out with Sasuke and their friends. Learning that Naruto had been admitted in a psychiatric center, worried her so much, that she stop associating with anyone who knew Naruto as a friend. Could she handle with what was going on with Naruto? Drugs, counselors, and suicide watches? All of it was way out of her league and so far removed from the direction that her family was expecting her to journey toward. Maybe wanting to date Naruto was only a crazy pipe dream that could never come true. Besides Kiba had an interest in her, maybe she could find out what he was like on more personal level.

Neji was still keeping tabs on his cousin, and if he thought for one minute that she was going against the mandates of the family line, he would usurp her and claim himself the rightful heir to the Hyuga empire. Being that there was fierce competition between the children of the optic emporium, Hinata had a duty to remain loyal to what her father expected from her. Seeing Naruto would only mess up her chances and bring shame to her family's house. Naruto would have to change for the better if she was going to date him.

Choji watched from across the room as Sasuke and his so called click were now eating lunch together. Needing to know what had happened to the blonde dweeb since he hadn't seen him going on almost two months now, the thick brown head sauntered over to the Uchiha's table.

"Oi, Sasuke, where's the idiot these days? His shoulder must have healed by now. Did he end up..." but before Choji could finish his sentence, Sasuke had grabbed the punk by the front of his burgandy sweat coat and pushed the annoyance away from himself, but not before speaking his mind.

"You've got real problems if you think you can come up to me and talk about my best friend like that. Get over yourself or I'll make sure that you never want to know the where abouts of Naruto again." he spoke in assertive tone while gritting his teeth the whole time. The other students just watched as Sasuke embarrassed Choji in front of everyone. The brawny classmate only looked at Sasuke with wild eyes, before he straightened the front of his clothes again and walked off with whatever dignity he could still manage to scrape off the floor.

Kiba, Sakura and Ino cheered the raven on for being so cool. While Shikamaru only quietly smiled at the Uchiha's job well done. For once someone was openly sticking up for Naruto besides himself. There was nothing wrong with Naruto. Sure he had problems but what teenager didn't? It just so happened that Naruto was having a rougher time in dealing with his. Sasuke knew something about Naruto but he wasn't telling anybody. Not understanding too much, Shikamaru was little by little fitting the pieces of the puzzle together. Something really bad must have happened to Naruto and only Sasuke knew about it. That had to be why the raven was always sticking up for their classmate.

Thoughts such as these went through the quiet genius's head as he listened to his friends talk among themselves about where was the where abouts of Naruto all this time. Needing to clear his head, Sasuke got up from the table and started walking out into the school yard. Better yet, he wanted to have a place to think in private so he headed to the roof of the school instead. When he reached the door that opened up to a vast black top area which was chain linked fencing around the whole parameter, he decided to sit on one of the benches in the garden section. As he dropped down onto the stone seating he started formulating a plan that he felt he was ready to carry out. Before another thought could be added to his great idea, the school bell rang and he had to get ready for his next class.

* * *

Over at the customs of Haneda International Airport, a long red-headed girl was putting her passport back into her backpack after the customs agent handed it back to her. Never being in Japan before she got ready to explore a beautiful land that someone from her past had only told her about. Now that things had really turned around for her in the past five years, she was going to see that long-lost friend and visit him in his hometown. She had heard that he had returned to Japan, and now that she was healing from her years of counseling, her family was allowing her to look up her first love, Naruto Uzumaki.

As the day wore on, Sasuke drifted through his classes not really being present in mind with any of them. When it came time to go home, he got stuck in traffic straight across from the bus station. Glancing over for only a second, he saw a beautiful girl struggling with her luggage as she tried swinging her backpack across her shoulders and hold the handle of the carry on with her other hand. The Uchiha didn't know why he couldn't tear his eyes away from her. Feeling this overpowering urge, he pulled out of the line of traffic and drove right up to the curb where the girl was waiting for a city bus or taxi to pick her up.

"I usually don't talk to girls like this, but you look like you need a ride somewhere." the raven introduced. The beauty only smiled with the line of flirting that the good-looking guy was using on her.

"Well I must say that's an original line in picking up girls. I've never heard that one before." she teased. Sasuke became flustered and extremely annoyed fast.

"Forget I said anything." he retorted before speeding off in complete embarrassment. The girl only giggled at the black car as it veered around the right corner on the next street up. As soon as Sasuke had made the right, he pulled over on the side street and started scolding himself for what he had just done.

"What was that? Why did I just start talking to that girl like that? I don't know anything about her, but when I saw her I couldn't help myself. Why am I feeling like this?" he asked himself out loud. In the mean time the girl caught a taxi to the nearest real estate office so that she could rent out an apartment in this new city of Konoha.

By the time Sasuke got home, he had three text messages from Sakura. "Where are you?...Why haven't you called me yet?...Are we still going out tonight?...call me asap". Rolling his eyes at the way Sakura was, Sasuke started thinking on whether it was time to move on and see about going out with that girl he saw. As crazy as that sounded, he needed something fresh in his life, and the raven had convinced himself that that girl was it.

After finding a place after only seeing the first couple of apartments that she saw that evening, Amaru Nikito decided on one near Konoha High school. She wouldn't need to take any transportation to get to and from the school, and from what she had been told, Naruto's family house was near the area as well.

She opted on a quaint one bedroom condominium that her father was more than happy to pay for her. He hadn't seen his little girl for four years prior to her being rescued. He wanted to give his little girl anything her heart desired. Being a tycoon of an oil company in the states, her father reluctantly let his little girl go to Japan at her request. Naruto was someone very special to her, and he wanted for the two of them to get back together, if she did in fact find him. Trusting that Amaru was responsible enough, he gave her a couple of years to live on her own, and she chose for that experience to start in Japan.

After sealing the deal on the condo, she then happily decided to take a stroll around her neighborhood. Sasuke felt like working out at the school gym since he had another match coming up the following week. As he drove his Mitsubishi on school grounds, he caught sight of the same girl that he had seen standing outside the bus station. Not knowing why he had to, he quickly drove his car to the parking lot and got out just as she was walking down the sidewalk next to the school.

"Ano, but this is the second time I've seen you today. Why do you think that is?" he asked with his heart beating fast. Amaru just stood astonished with the great looking males's tenacity.

"You really want me to know who you are, don't you?" she laughed as Sasuke stood feeling stupid in front of her. No, it's just that...there's something about you...I'm Sasuke Uchiha." he introduced properly this time. Amaru stood gazing at the beautiful male. This guy was a scene to behold.

"I guess I can tell you my name. Amaru. Amaru Nikito." she responded while still fondly looking at the raven. Stumbling for his words like an idiot, Sasuke tried to think of something intelligent even though he was nervous, something that never happened to him when talking to pretty girls.

"Are you visiting Konoha or planning to live here?" he asked thinking his question was pretty reasonable. Amaru could only laugh at the Uchiha's cuteness.

"You go straight for the punch line don't you?" she joked but Sasuke wasn't use to the saying.

"Hn. Whatever." he replied not being able to say anything else.

"It means you don't waste any time in getting to your point in a conversation. Yes, I just moved here today, and I'm here to see a friend that I haven't seen for a long time." she shared.

"What's her name? Maybe I already know her." Sasuke replied nervously.

"It's not a she, but a he. His name is Naruto Uzumaki, do you know him?" she asked obliviously. Sasuke's heart almost stopped in hearing Naruto's name falling from this new girl's lips. Not being able to talk any longer, he made an excuse as to why he had to leave.

"I've got to go practice. I'll see you around." he quickly informed as he rushed off toward the open door of the gym. Amaru was bewildered with what had just happened. "Why did he run off so fast?" she asked herself out loud before turning to continue searching for Naruto's home address.

When Sasuke got inside the building he felt only three inches tall. What was he doing? He already had Sakura so why did he just make a complete idiot of himself in front of that girl only to hear her tell him that she was in Konoha to see Naruto. Why did it have to be him? As these thoughts turned around in his head, he started getting into his workout clothes.

Amaru found Jiraiya's house, but when she went up to the front door, there were no lights on. Jiraiya was inside the kitchen drinking some more Sake when he thought he heard the doorbell ringing. Not wanting to get up he scowled before miserably shouting out his response to the clanging tone.

"Go away! Nobody's home!" he called out before taking another gulp. Amaru remained persistent in her goal.

"I'm a friend of Naruto's from the states and I wanted to..." but before she could finish her sentence she saw the front door fly open and felt herself being thrusted through the threshold of Naruto's front door. Once inside the dark lit corridor, Amaru scanned the room she was now in, and then looked back to address Jiraiya.

"I'm Amaru Nikito and I"ve come a long way to see Naruto. Where is he?" she asked anxiously. Jiraiya's look of surprise turned into one of sadness as he got ready to give the bold girl his reply.

"You can't see Naruto no matter how far you traveled from. It's impossible. Go back to your home and forget about my nephew." the old man instructed. Amaru was floored with the bluntness that came from the old man.

"Go home? But I've traveled thousands of miles to see Naruto again, and I'm not going back until I see him!" she blasted back. Jiraiya had his eyes down, but after hearing the girl's reply, he raised them up again to address her with his own response.

"You can't see Naruto, and that's final! I don't want him reminded of any of that hell he experienced over in the United States! He's not well and seeing you again, might kill him!" he yelled back in defiance. Once again Amaru was shocked with the brashness of this old man who had called Naruto his nephew.

"So...are you Naruto's uncle? Where are his parents? Are they here too?" she asked naïvely. Jiraiya couldn't believe that the girl didn't know the truth about Naruto's parents.

"How exactly do you know Naruto? Were you mixed up in that mess over there too?" he asked being curious and concerned. Amaru just stood staring and not having a clue on how she was going to tell this older person how Naruto and she met.

"We know each other because of..." but she was unable to say anything further. Jiraiya could tell how difficult it was for the girl to talk.

"Have a cup of tea and we can talk about this further." he invited as he politely escorted the now nervous girl towards the kitchen.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 of Erased From Existence**

As soon as Amaru was seated at the kitchen table, Jiraiya began his somewhat subtle interrogation. "How do you know Naruto? Were you in that God forsaken place that now has my nephew in a mental hospital?" he pressured causing Amaru to be overwhelmed.

"Did you just say that Naruto is in a mental hospital! Where? I have to see him now!" she demanded as she got ready to stand back up and leave. Jiraiya realized that he had said too much.

"I shouldn't have said that. This Sake does me in every time." he ranted as he got ready to toss the empty bottle into the blue waste basket.

"Where is Naruto? I have to see him! I came all this way because I couldn't get him out of mind after all these years! Is he hurt? Does he have anyone special like a girlfriend in his life?" she continued with her questions. Jiraiya was hearing information thrown at him faster than he could process any of it. Finally when his brain caught up to his senses, he became stubborn immediately.

"No, I can't let you see him. I don't even know what connection you have with my nephew because you won't tell me anything. Listen, I need this. I have to know what it was like for Naruto over there, because I'm the reason my nephew turned out like he is now." Jiraiya shared with glistened eyes. Amaru didn't know what to say after listening to the semi drunk man.

"I...don't know what I should say...I know Naruto because he protected me when he was eleven." Amaru nervously revealed with her head down. Jiraiya was splicing a possible scenario together as to what exactly the girl meant by Naruto had protected her, but without her full witness account he wouldn't know for sure what had really happened. Needing for the girl to talk to him, he changed his approach in the hopes that she would open up more to him.

"Amaru. I know that it's really hard for you to talk about your experiences over there, but I really need to know what Naruto went through. Please, tell me, I'm dying inside not knowing. Please." he practically begged. Amaru was at a loss. She had only wanted to see Naruto again, and hopefully rekindle their friendship. But here she was sitting at the kitchen table with Naruto's uncle while he waited for her to open up about a hell that neither she nor Naruto wanted to think about or talk about again.

"I...don't feel comfortable talking about this with you." she shared knowing that there could be a chance that Jiraiya would take it as a show of disrespect. Jiraiya's countenance changed from one of hope to one of despair in two seconds flat. "I know you want answers, but I can't be the one to give them to you. You don't know how hard it was for us over there, and Naruto especially. All I will say is that he saved a lot of kids from being tortured or raped because he took their place instead." Amaru finished saying. She then watched as Jiraiya dropped his head down unable to hold up the weight of truth upon him any longer.

Seeing the moment as it being the best time for her to leave, Amaru bowed graciously and got ready to say what she was feeling before she left for the night. "I'm sorry to have bothered you, Mr. Uzumaki. I'll go now, but I will be back. You say that Naruto is in a mental hospital, then I'll start going through all of them here in Konoha, that is unless you want to tell me where he is right now."she hinted.

Jiraiya was perplexed with what he had just learned and he just wanted the girl to leave so he could have a few moments to himself. He knew that Naruto was being driven back to the house later that night. Iruka had arranged for Naruto to be brought home around nine o'clock that evening. He just didn't want this Amaru girl to know how close she was to seeing Naruto that same night. He would do what he could to keep her away from Naruto as much as possible.

As soon as Amaru walked out of the front door, Jiraiya locked the door and fell to his knees in anguish. Needing to cry out all of his pent feelings, he opened the flood gate of tears as he thought about what Amaru had told him. Naruto had allowed himself to be used for the sake of the other children there. The torrent of emotion that gushed forth from the old man as he kept thinking about the treatment Naruto must have endured for three years there was overwhelming for even him. This boy was beyond understanding. Even in the most horrifying situation ever, and he still thought of others before himself.

Jiraiya couldn't stop wondering about what kind of kid Naruto really was. Did he really allow himself to be degraded for the prevention of others having to suffer instead? What had those slime balls who had chosen to perpetuate agony and humiliation upon innocent children really do to his nephew? How was it possible for Naruto to still function after what he had been through? The question was exactly that. What had those filthy souls subjected Naruto into doing for their lustful pleasures?

As Jiraiya tried to calm down and keep it together, he heard a knock on the door, and he somehow knew that it was Iruka bringing Naruto home. Thank God that girl had left. Naruto didn't need to be reminded of his hellish past. That girl would only upset him worse. Needing to get off of his knees, he reached into his pocket and pulled out an unused tissue to blow his nose. He couldn't let Naruto see him like that.

Once again Iruka knocked on the door, and this time, Jiraiya staggered his way to open it. "You brought him back in one piece." Jiraiya joked as he greeted Iruka and got ready to welcome Naruto back home.

"Yeah, he's here, but he's not happy to be back." Iruka stated as Naruto pushed his way past the old man and made a bee line straight up to his room. The time at the center had been grueling for Naruto and all he wanted was to sleep in his own bed. As soon as Iruka had looked at Jiraiya he could tell that the retired Ninjitsu master had been crying.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he stared at Jiraiya with concern. Jiraiya realized that Iruka knew about him being upset.

"Oh this...yeah I just needed a few moments to myself is all." he shared while trying to chuckle away his sudden embarrassment.

Iruka followed Jiraiya into the kitchen where there were several empty turned over Sake bottles on the table. Jiraiya saw the sad look on the younger man's face.

"Oh here, let me clean those up. It will take only a second for me to..." but Iruka interrupted the white-haired man with his personal observation.

"You've been thinking about Naruto haven't you?...Tsunade saw him today, and as could be expected the meeting between Naruto and her didn't go that well." Iruka shared. Jiraiya only chuckled as he started pouring two shot glasses of Sake.

"That's Naruto's way of sizing someone new up. He has to make them angry in order for him to understand the kind of person they might be."Jiraiya informed. Iruka only nodded his head to show that he was listening.

"Naruto is in a deep depression and it's something to think about, but homeschooling him or giving him a tutor might be the better route at the moment. He's in no way ready to return to Konoha High. As for his visits with Tsunade, they'll be taking place once a week every Friday. She acts like she will eat him up, but she's really good with troubled males especially. She can pose as a Big Sister and take him places that normally he wouldn't have the chance to go or want to go to with his friends, or you. Sometimes talking and spending time with someone away from the family unit and social circuits proves to be more beneficial.

As for him being caught with hard narcotics, I was able to keep him away from the judicial system this time. But if it happens again, my hands are tied, do you understand?" Iruka asked making sure that Jiraiya was soaking in all that was being told to him.

"So what's going to happen now? I mean will there be some kind of quiet hearing at the facility or is this situation completely finished? That boy..." but Jiraiya started tearing up again which caused Iruka to be concerned for the older man's mental state. "That boy doesn't need any more trauma added to his life, and I'm going to get myself clean so I was wondering if you could make the arrangements for Naruto to stay with someone else while I check myself in a detox center." Jiraiya requested with seriousness.

Iruka was baffled with what Jiraiya was asking of him. He had just brought Naruto home, and now Jiraiya was asking him for his help to find a temporary place for Naruto to stay at while he left to get clean? What had brought this on? Wanting to comply to show his support, he nodded his head again in letting Jiraiya know that he would help.

"If you don't mind me asking, but what brought this decision about all of a sudden?" Iruka asked. Jiraiya started getting up from the kitchen table as he got ready to answer.

"It's the right thing to do. I have someone in mind and I wondered if you could pay them a visit after you leave here tonight." Jiraiya requested as he started gathering his dirty eating dishes and putting them in the sink to wash them at a later time.

"Sure, I can do that, but do they know about your plan?" Iruka asked further as he himself started helping to clear the side dishes off the table and return them to the fridge.

"Let's talk while I work around the kitchen, ne?" the sobering old man suggested as Iruka joined him in cleaning off the counters.

* * *

As soon as Naruto got back to his bedroom he immediately headed for his desk underneath the pull-out drawer and yanked it open. Needing to get rid of the pressure building up inside of him to the point like he felt he was going to explode, he felt underneath for the taped packaged of new razor blades that he had hid there. But as he felt around, his hand wasn't touching anything and Naruto started to panic.

"Where are they? I know I put them under here. No...no the old man better have not found them and taken them out!...I need them!" he vented out loud to himself as he began panicking even more. Now unable to hold his anger back, he sat on the edge of his bed and started yanking at his hair roots and gritting his teeth. "Where are they!" he shouted out again not caring how loud he was. But he found out seconds later that was a big mistake. Jiraiya and Iruka came rushing up the stairs and banging on Naruto's locked door.

"Naruto, are you okay in there?" Iruka questioned while Jiraiya stood behind the younger man and worried about what Naruto was doing in his room. Needing to get rid of both of them quick, Naruto thought up some lame excuse for his hollering.

"I uh...I was looking for some music CD's that I wanted to listen to...but it's okay now, I found them!" he called out. Iruka wasn't buying it.

"Naruto open the door. I want to see what you're doing in there." he instructed. Naruto became antsy as he tried to calm down and act like nothing had upset him.

"It's okay! I'm just going to go to bed, I'm really tired!" he called out again hoping to get the hound dogs off of his trail. But Iruka knew better than to trust the words of a teen who only a day ago had been high on cocaine.

"Naruto open the door! I want to see for myself what you're doing in there." he calmly spoke through the door. Naruto got off the bed and nervously walked to unlock the door. Once the door was open he stood staring at his counselor and uncle.

"I wasn't doing anything. I was just getting ready for bed." he explained. Iruka looked into Naruto's eyes, and then next at his hands as he started walking further into the room. The place was clean only because Jiraiya had gone over it with a fine tooth comb. Naruto couldn't stand everything in its place. It looked too neat and tidy for his taste.

"You see, I wasn't doing anything! Now can you both leave so I can go to sleep!" Naruto yelled out not because of irritation but because he wanted to find something to cut himself with.

"I have to be sure. You're only home and not in jail because of your uncle, and don't forget it. It's my job to make sure that you're not using while you're here. I mean it Naruto, if you're caught even once." Iruka reminded which only made Naruto's ears burn more.

"You've seen my room now get out! I have to listen to you at the cess pool but not here! I'm not doing anything, now leave!" Naruto demanded this time. All the while gritting his teeth at Iruka, he was giving Jiraiya the sharpest glare he could muster. He knew that Jiraiya knew why too.

The older man had found and thoroughly cleaned out every blade, as well as every sexual paraphernalia that he didn't even know that Naruto had had possession of. It never even entered his mind that his nephew was surrounding himself with the things that he was around or used in the sex ring. How could he be so naïve in believing that the gadgets that Naruto had been exposed to no longer occupied his nephew's mind? Three grueling years of suffering at the hands of the demon filth had never left him, and that included never leaving the tortuous world of using sexual devices behind.

Naruto felt completely naked that his private things had been confiscated. Jiraiya understood perfectly the reason for Naruto's glares. As soon as Iruka would leave, they would both have it out with each other. When Iruka was finished scanning the bedroom he turned to Naruto before leaving. "I know you see me as the biggest jerk right now, but I care about you, Naruto. None of what we have to do is going to be easy, but if you stick with it, and learn to trust me then..." but Naruto was getting impatient.

"Are you done yet?" he asked as he rudely looked away from his counselor as Iruka tried explaining his side of things, and Iruka took the sarcasm as his hint to leave the house for good.

"Yeah I'm done. Remember you meet up with Tsunade on Friday. I'll talk to you later, Jiraiya." Iruka spoke as he walked past both of the Uzumaki males and started trotting downstairs. Jiraiya was embarrassed from Naruto's attitude and he galloped down the stairs to try and smooth out things with Iruka.

"He didn't mean to be that way. I'm sure that..." but Iruka turned around at the base of the stairs with his response.

"Jiraiya, I know you mean well, but you're wrong. Naruto wanted to be rude, and he was. It's not going to be easy I'll tell you right now. He's a kid who's teetering on the edge of a dark chasym and I really think at times that he wants to jump in it and end it all. I'm not trying to be mean, but Naruto is in so much pain and he trusts no one. Are you really sure you want to leave him with them? I don't think he's anywhere near ready." Iruka finished sharing.

"What choice do I have? I am no help to Naruto like this. They're friends, and if you can convince his older brother, then they might say okay to the arrangement, otherwise he'll have to return to the center. As for knowing what's going through Naruto's head, I don't have a clue, but I love him like my own son. I won't give up on my nephew, ever." Jiraiya stated assertively.

"Alright then, we'll give a shot. If they say yes, then I'll make the arrangements tomorrow, ne?" Iruka informed. Jiraiya was grateful.

"Thank you. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens." Jiraiya finished saying before he opened up the front door and walked Iruka outside to his car.

When Jiraiya went back into the house, Naruto was right there in the front hall corridor ready to blast him. Jiraiya knew it was coming and so he braced himself for his nephew's interrogation. "What right did you have? Huh? That was my stuff and in my room! You just can't walk into my private space and start touching all of my things!" he hollered in which Jiraiya was ready to deflect.

"That's where you're wrong, Naruto. I have every right if you're bringing drugs into this house and buying razor blades to cut yourself with!" he boomed back as Jiraiya continued walking past the enraged blonde.

"So what if I need to get numb! It's the only thing that helps remind me that I'm still living! I don't care how bad it looks to everyone else, but to me it calms me down! Are you going to deny me that little bit of peace that I..." but Jiraiya couldn't stand listening to anymore.

"I do care! I care that you're hurting! I care that you are living on the edge finding ways to make yourself suffer! I love you Naruto, and I'm sorry! I'm truly sorry for not getting you out of that hell hole sooner! But I..."Jiraiya never got to finish.

"Urusei Old Man! You think you know me! You think you can tell me about what I went through! It was me! Not you who was beaten, raped, tortured for three agonizing years! I was only eight years old and by the time I turned eleven I was so good at what I did that..." but Jiraiya couldn't handle hearing the raw truth of what his nephew had to live out, because he had been boozing it up at Ichiraku's the whole time.

"Don't say it! I thought I could hear this, but it's too much on me! Stop! I need a drink!" Jiraiya announced as he headed toward the kitchen for another swig of Sake. Naruto stood shocked. His uncle just walked away from him and this time he couldn't bear it.

"That's right old man go nurse your bottle and don't care about me! I'll just jump onto the tracks of a subway train somewhere!" Naruto shouted before rushing out the front door and started running at full speed toward anywhere.

Jiraiya couldn't do it. He thought he could, but as soon as he reached the Sake his hands trembled as he tried holding the green shot glass in his grip. Naruto was venting while he was focusing on the smoothness of the alcohol slipping down his throat. He couldn't listen, he couldn't hear the truth, because it would always be a tortuous reminder of so many traumatic things.

Kushina, his younger sister was his joy. He watched over her when she allowed him to as kids, and once she grew up she turned out to be a beautiful woman inside and out. Then just like that, she was gone. Minato, her husband was well liked and respected, and he never let his astonishing good looks go to his head. He studied and trained just like everyone else, and Naruto was both of their joy. The boy was as bright as the sun itself when he laughed, and his eyes sparkled with God's love in them. What happened to their family should have never happened.

Not only did Naruto's parents die on that tragic day, but Jiraiya died also. Developing a very bad habit of drinking to ease his tormented heart, the alcohol got the better of him, and now he was what he was because of his own weakness of not being able to stop drinking. Naruto had run off somewhere, but because his head was so foggy at the moment, Jiraiya couldn't do anything but press down on Sasuke's cell phone number.

* * *

Iruka was sitting across from Itachi in their livingroom going over the final details for Naruto to stay at their house. After hearing what had happened to Naruto in the past few months, there was no way that Itachi could object to helping out. "I really appreciate this Itachi, and this will give Jiraiya the chance to get sober for Naruto's sake." Iruka shared. Itachi quaintly smiled.

"Well hopefully he won't use while he's here. I'm very busy with the company and Sasuke being a full-time student won't have much time on his hands to always be doing things with Naruto, but he's welcome to stay here for as long as he needs to." Itachi affirmed.

Both men stood up, shook hands to end their meeting that night. "I'll be bringing him over tomorrow. Do you mind if I take a quick look at where his bedroom will be?" Iruka asked for the sake of protocol.

"Sure, it's right this way." Itachi invited as both males started to climb the stairwell after each other.

* * *

(hu pronounced as the sound of double "oo" in hook)

"Hu!...Hu!...Hu!" Sasuke continued expressing as he out dodged the martial arts moves of Shikamaru. The teammates had met up with each other at the gym, and now both friends were practicing their spars for the Ninjitsu match coming up that next Friday. Needing a break, both males stopped and grabbed their water bottles to quench their thirst. Shikamaru thought the time would be good to chat with the raven for a few minutes, since they hadn't in a while.

"So do you think we'll kick butt this Friday?" he asked sitting on the blue floor matting. Sasuke took another gulp of ice water before replying.

"We're the best. We'll keep the championship." he responded before clipping his bottle cap securely down again and returning the bottle back to his black duffel bag. Just as both were about to get up again and head for the showers, Sasuke heard and saw his cell phone go off.

"Yeah?" he asked once he saw that it was Jiraiya calling him.

"He hates me Sasu...ke." Jiraiya slurred into the speaker. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly at hearing the condition of the drunken man's voice.

"What happened?" he asked next.

"We got in an argument and he stormed out of here to only God knows where." Jiraiya replied as he poured himself his sixth shot glass of Sake. Sasuke only listened because he didn't know what it was that he could really do to help in the situation.

"He probably went to the old training grounds to cool off. I can look for him, but first I have to shower." Sasuke informed.

Jiraiya raised his eye brows. "What did you have a hot date or something? Ha!...ha!ha!" he laughed being totally inebriated. The raven sneered at the uncouth comment.

"I'll call you later." Sasuke replied before ending the call. Shikamaru wondered what the call was about.

"Did something happen to Naruto again?" he asked with genuine concern. Sasuke snickered at the question.

"Again? When is there not something happening with the dobe? I better get washed up and start looking for him. Man, he's annoying." the raven complained as he started toward the showers in the boy's locker room. Shikamaru grabbed his stuff and started walking next to the Uchiha.

"Wait up, I want to go with you." he announced.

* * *

Naruto was tired of running and when he saw a nearby park, he decided to go sit on the swings to take a rest. As he approached the playground equipment he felt a little better as his heart beat started slowing down. Not even five minutes later he heard the sound of bottles clanking against each other, and the disgusting noise of belching afterward. Jumping up from his swing he became on the alert fast.

"Who's there?" he called out as he got in fighting stance. The middle-aged male emerged from inside a hut on the monkey bars, and waved an over friendly howdy doody greeting at Naruto. Still not knowing what he should think about the unkept character in front of him, he remained in his survival mode.

"You cold kid?" the man wearing a hunter's jacket and boots asked bearly able to see Naruto in front of him. Realizing that he was actually freezing after running out of the house with only his orange and green hoodie on, Naruto nodded his head in agreement. The older man chuckled at Naruto's response.

"The cat got your tongue kid?" he asked right as he took another swig from his bottle of Scotch. Naruto just stood silent and waited to see what the guy was going to do next. "Here, I got some donuts with cream filling in them. Do ya want one?" he asked being genuinely polite. Naruto was ravenous. He hadn't eaten in many hours and his stomach was gnawing from hunger. Needing something to eat, he started walking toward the man, but only because his hunger dictated to him that he should. The older man grinned as Naruto got closer.

Sensing that being with this person didn't feel right, Naruto still went up to him so that he could grab one of the donuts and bolt out of there afterwards. The closer he came, the more the man smiled. "Come on. It's okay kid, I'm not going to bite you or anything. Just come in here to grab a donut and get warm." he invited.

The fact that he had to crawl into the small space to get a donut put Naruto on edge. "Let me see the donuts first." he demanded. The older man shook his head in agreement and then reached behind him and pulled out a fresh box of assorted glazed donuts in his knitted gloves. "See? I ain't lying to ya kid. I really have donuts here with me." he expressed and then waited until Naruto inched his way up a kiddie slide to enter into the confined space. Anything was better than having that cold wind blowing down his back.

When Naruto was next to the older man, he reeked of alcohol. The smell was overbearing, but the donuts were the goal. The older man put the box on both Naruto's and his lap so that the eager blonde could start browsing through the assortment. As Naruto was eyeing a chocolate eclair, the older man positioned the beer bottle over Naruto's head.

Crack!

The dim lit scenery in front of Naruto started becoming distorted as he felt himself being press down onto his back. Realizing that he had been hit with something, he tried struggling to get his bearings again. The older man went to work to accomplish his goal as he started reaching down toward Naruto's jean zipper. It was happening all over again. Pushing the man's hands away the best that he could with a throbbing headache and feeling of dizziness and wanting to throw up, Naruto started whining about what the man was starting to do. "No! You only said a donut!" Naruto whimpered as he watched himself starting to be violated in slow motion.

"You're stupid like all the others." the man insulted as he forcefully poured Scotch down Naruto's throat. Naruto spit out what he could, but he drank the majority of it. Unable to move fast enough, he tried to keep pushing the man's hands and face away from his unzippered pants, but the man's strength was more than his own. "Just like giving candy to a baby. The street filth like you fall for it every time." he mocked as he tried putting his face down closer into Naruto's pants.

Naruto struggled with everything he had, to make sure that this pervert didn't touch him down there. Each time the guy tried digging his hands further inside the jean opening, Naruto tried digging him, pushing his arms away. "No, don't do this! Why do you have to do this!" he tried shouting but it only came out as a pathetic whisper. The man was determined to pleasure himself with Naruto's body, but not if Naruto could help it.

Being fed up with the brat's resistance, the man's demeanor changed. His normal persona that he used on his other victims wasn't working on this kid. Strong measures were necessary. Not caring if the teen complained or not, the man forcefully started unsnapping Naruto's jeans and pulling down his underwear. Realizing how close this sicko was getting to accomplishing his goal, Naruto mustered new added strength and pinned the guy's head between his knee caps using them as a vice. The guy was infuriated with what this kid was doing to him.

"I'm going to mess you up good!" he started shouting as his fist aimed for Naruto's face but instead slammed into the wooden plank boards below them as Naruto swiftly moved his head to the side. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" he shouted as Naruto still very dazed tried dropping his body out of the hut and onto the cold ground way below him. He was fighting for his life and dignity, and it called for stronger measures.

Sasuke and Shikamaru had finished searching the old training grounds and were on their way back through the inner part of the city, when they were driving by an unvisited park and saw some kind of commotion going on at the playground. "Something is going on over there." Sasuke announced as he drove by the place squinting his eyes trying to make out what the movement was.

"It's probably a couple messing around after hours." Shikamaru shared but the feeling that Sasuke was having wasn't setting right with him.

"Nah, I keep getting a funny sense. We better check it out just to be sure" he announced. As the Mitsubishi drove in closer to the play area, both friends could see a silhouette of a bigger person straddling themselves over someone on the ground. Thinking that two love birds were being extremely inappropriate they almost disregarded the scene until they both saw that the bigger person was raising their fist up in the air.

"Someone's being attacked!" Shikamaru shouted as both he and Sasuke turned the engine off and bolted out of the car. Naruto was scared with what was happening to him. This hadn't happened since seven to eight years ago. Now he was in too much pain to ward his attacker off. He had tried his best to fight, but the blow to his head was proving to be more serious than he thought it was.

The next thing Naruto thought he heard was the sound of fists coming to fierce blows on someone. A feel of a hand cradling him was the only security he felt at the moment. He didn't know who these people were, but he was relieved that he didn't have to fight off that perv any longer. Unable to hear what was being said to him, he kept slipping in and out of consciousness.

A tug of his underwear and cold hands touching his skin set him off in the midst of his trying to blackout. "No! No! No!...he screamed out as he felt his lower region being yanked on. Sasuke looked over in between blows to see what was happening to Naruto.

"I had to pull his pants back up, but he must be thinking that I'm trying to hurt him or something!" Shikamaru shouted out in fear.

"You take over this trash and let me help Naruto. I know how to calm him down. He probably thinks he's being attacked again." Sasuke instructed. Both switched places as Sasuke kneeled down behind Naruto and put his hands on his panicking friend's shoulders.

"Naruto, it's alright, it's me, Sasuke and Shikamaru. You're going to be alright!" the raven tried reassuring. Naruto finally let his tears flow once he felt he was out of danger. The perv was unconscious as Shikamaru called the police, and Sasuke started asking Naruto questions.

"Did he hurt you, dobe? Did he touch you?" he asked hoping that they had got there in time. Naruto started losing it once he let sink in what had just happened to him.

"I was hungry! I only wanted a donut! He did this because I wanted a donut!" he kept crying which didn't make any sense to Sasuke or Shikamaru.

"Is he okay or not? Do we have to bring him to the hospital?" Shikamaru asked wanting to make sure that they helped Naruto in the way that he needed to be helped.

"I don't know. He keeps babbling about a donut. I'll try asking him again. Did that man violate you?" the raven questioned which Naruto understood this time.

"No...I kept fighting him off!...I only wanted a donut! I was cold and wanted a donut!" he kept yelling and crying as Sasuke took off his own black fleeced hoodie and covered Naruto over in it.

"I think he hurt his head. Do you see this lump on the side here?" Sasuke pointed out after he shined his flashlight app on the injury.

"So should we take him to the hospital?" Shikamaru asked again just as both he and Sasuke heard sirens nearing the area.

"No, I don't want this to be a big mess in court. Let's take him back to his house and let him sleep there. If he has a concussion, which he probably does, then I'll stay awake with him for as long as it takes. Help me get him on his feet." Sasuke instructed as both Shikamaru and he started lifting Naruto's frame in an upright position.

By the time the police arrived, no one was there except the guy that they had to arrest. Wondering what had happened, they remained confused as they hauled the pulverized drunk into the back of their car and took him to the county jail. Sasuke and Shikamaru arrived at Naruto's and just when they were about to shut off the engine, Itachi called Sasuke.

"Yeah, I'm busy right now what is it?" Sasuke asked being slightly irritated.

"Did you find Naruto yet?" the older brother questioned.

"Yeah. But how did you know that I was even out looking for him?" Sasuke inquired.

"Jiraiya called me earlier. He checked himself into a rehab center, and I agreed to let Naruto stay with us." Itachi informed. Sasuke sat speechless for a few seconds.

"When were the two of you going to notify me about this decision of yours?" the younger raven grilled.

"I did leave you a couple of messages, but you must have had the sound turned off. Anyways, Naruto will be staying with us for awhile and I have a room set up for him. Is he alright?" Itachi inquired with concern.

"I'll tell you everything when I get home." Sasuke replied before ending the call.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disregard any typos...enjoy :)**

**Chapter 7 of Erased From Existence**

Itachi had a colleague who was a doctor, who was willing to come over to the Uchiha's residence and check on Naruto's condition. As he looked over Naruto's dazed pupils he requested for the blonde to privately come to his office so that he could take an MRI image of his brain. Itachi drove while Sasuke and Shikamaru sat in the back seat of the Lexus with Naruto to help keep him awake as much as possible. Sasuke was curious about how good of a doctor this friend of Itachi's was.

"How do you know this guy?" the younger raven questioned. Itachi stopped at the next red light and got ready to give his answer. We went to college together. He started out in marine biology, but after being bitten by a shark he decided to help people instead. His name is Kisame Hoshigaki, and he's really good in diagnosing brain injuries or head trauma." Itachi shared just as the green light came on.

Naruto was in a lot of pain. The throbbing wouldn't stop and he felt sick to his stomach. "I'm going to be sick." he announced from feeling queasy from the motion of the car. At least that's what Naruto thought, but Sasuke and Shikamaru had a different theory for their friend's upset stomach. Naruto was not allowed to go to sleep, and every time that he wanted to doze off, Sasuke or Shikamaru woke him back up to alertness.

"I'm so tired! Just let me close my eyes, this once!" Naruto whined, but his two friends and Itachi wouldn't have it.

"You can't go to sleep Naruto. Let's talk about Ninjitsu, ne?" Shikamaru suggested. Sasuke only sneered at the dumb idea. The dobe didn't have enough experience to even understand the martial art form.

"Ninjitsu...ninjitsu...I don't want to think about it. My head really hurts. Can we stop for some ramen somewhere?" Naruto asked out of the blue. Both Sasuke and Shikamaru looked at each other, and then the younger raven got ready to give his snide comment.

"Didn't I tell you? He is clueless when it comes to true martial art form. His mind is occupied in eating noodles." the Uchiha snickered. Naruto couldn't really pay attention to all that Sasuke was saying about him so he tried concentrating by looking out of the window. Just as the car was about to turn into the parking lot of Kisame's office, Naruto spotted a donut shop across the street. Immediately his head throbbed even worse, and he started shaking. Shikamaru was the first to notice.

"Oi, Naruto what's wrong?" he asked with worry. Sasuke looked at the direction Naruto's face was turned toward and he knew what had upset the dobe.

"It's over, dobe. He can't hurt you anymore." he tried reassuring. But Naruto only laid his head against the cold glass pane to help soothe the ache in his temple. When they arrived at Kisame's office door, he escorted them in politely.

"Come right in, and lay down...Naruto is it?" Kisame asked.

"Yes, Naruto." Itachi replied.

"Lay him right over here and let me take another look at him." the blue tinted skin man instructed. Immediately Shikamaru and Sasuke started staring by accident at the doctor, and he caught their gaze.

"You're probably wondering why my skin is so blue. It's because..." but Shikamaru jumped in to share his input.

"You grew up by silver mines and the acidity was high in your drinking water, ne?" he shared. Kisame could only smirk at the teen's intellect.

"I'm impressed. That's correct. But I don't let it stop me. I'm sure my college bud here, told you about my close call with a shark." he continued sharing, while Naruto laid on the narrow examination table with a pen light shining in his eyes.

"Yeah, we were told. But what do you think about Naruto? Does he have a concussion?" Shikamaru questioned as he watched how uncomfortable Naruto looked at the moment.

"It's hard for me to tell with just a light. I'll need to do an MRI scan, and for that I'll need you two to wait outside while Itachi assists me." he informed. Naruto heard everything, and on learning that his friends weren't going to be in there with him, he got scared and called out to protest.

"Guys don't leave me!" he whined as both Sasuke and Shikamaru started walking toward the door.

"We're just going to be right out here in the hall, Naruto, okay?" Shikamaru tried reassuring. Sasuke had already left. He didn't want Naruto getting in the habit of clinging to him, now that he was going to be staying at their house for a long time.

When the examination and MRI was done, Kisame rolled Naruto back out to Sasuke and Shikamaru, and then got ready to give his diagnosis.

"Naruto does have a hairline fracture and I'm going to admit him into the hospital to play it safe."

Sausuke stirred a little at the fact that once again Naruto needed another hospital room. Turning to the blonde he was curious to know how Naruto felt about that decision being made for him. "Are you okay with that?" he asked the disoriented blonde.

"My head hurts can I lay down again?" Naruto asked not paying attention to the raven's question. Shikamaru only smirked before responding back to Sasuke.

"Did you get your answer?" he teased as Shikamaru took over wheeling Naruto towards the elevator that led to the hospital entrance from Kisame's office.

When they arrived at Naruto's hospital room Naruto was starting to doze off and everyone was trying to keep him awake.

"Naruto, you can't go to sleep right now. You have to stay awake a little longer." Shikamaru tried reminding, but Naruto could barely hold his eyelids open any longer.

"I need to sleep." Naruto whined until Sasuke stepped forward to take over the situation.

"Oi, dobe do you want to go into a coma and possibly never wake up again?" Sasuke questioned as he leaned in to stare his whining friend down. Immediately Shikamaru got irritated with Sasuke's harsh tactics but said nothing. He wanted to see what kind of a friendship bond Sasuke and Naruto had with each other.

With his head still throbbing, Naruto jolted himself into seriousness. "No, but I can't keep my eyes open, teme." he tried explaining.

Sasuke knew that he had to put his foot down with his stubborn friend. "Do you want to keep on living or you feel that it doesn't matter? Only you can control what your body does." Sasuke tried explaining quietly even though Naruto was making it difficult for him to keep his cool.

"No...I do want to, but my head hurts so bad right now that I..." But Sasuke jumped back in.

"Focus dobe. We'll help you, don't worry. We won't let anything happen to you." Sasuke reassured. Shikamaru started understanding the raven's way of dealing with Naruto. His was a harsh but gentle mixture to keep the blonde's confidence up. The teen intellect still didn't know the secret between Naruto and Sasuke, but whatever it was, Sasuke definitely had Naruto's back.

Once Naruto was settled in his bed, Sasuke looked over at Itachi and gestured for him to step out into the hall with him, while Shikamaru kept listening to Naruto's garb in order to keep him awake now that he had been given some pain reliever for his headache.

"...so I kicked the tree so hard that I thought I had broken my foot." he rambled on while Shikamaru tried to stay attentive to what he was saying but his eyes wandered over in Sasuke's and Itachi's direction.

Both ravens stepped outside of Naruto's hospital room. "What time do you have to go to the office this morning?" Sasuke asked. Itachi looked at his Rado watch.

"In about an hour or so." he replied.

"Could you stop by Ichiraku's and pick up a box load of pork ramen for Naruto?" Sasuke requested. Itachi only looked at his brother with slight surprise.

"Let me guess, the noodles are meant to hold you guys over since you'll be at the hospital for the whole day." he shared. Sasuke chuckled at hearing that comment.

"No, the noodles are only for Naruto. He actually will eat that whole order himself." the younger raven replied. Just as Itachi was about to comment further, both Uchiha's heard yelling coming from Naruto's hospital room.

"Oi, Sasuke! Itachi! Something is wrong with Naruto." Shikamaru called out in a panic. Immediately the brothers charged into the entrance way, only to see Naruto convulsing on the bed.

"What's happening, dobe!" Sasuke hollered out in fear just as two nurses rushed into the room and started pushing both ravens and Shikamaru aside.

"Give us some space!...His blood pressure is dropping!" one of the females called out as she tried looking into Naruto's pupils. All three males were terrified that Naruto's body was unable to stop the thrashing that it was rhythmically continuing to do. A team of doctors rushed into the room, and all of Naruto's friends were pushed bodily out into the hall. This was a surreal moment for each one of them, as they tried getting a grip on the seriousness of the present situation.

"What happened? One minute we were hashing over how active or inactive he is in after school activities, and the next minute he spaces out and starts convulsing on the bed!" Shikamaru shouted because of his frustration, but moreso because of his fear. Sasuke remained quiet the best he could. Trying hard to get himself to accept what was going on with the dweeb, he kept his cool in front of Itachi and Shikamaru even though he was really sweating bullets.

Finally, a gurney rolled out from Naruto's room and he was unconcious with an oxygen mask over his face. As Sasuke looked at his suffering friend he felt suddenly drained of his energy. Naruto's complexion was pale and he looked seriously ill. "Take him to the MRI immediately. I'll schedule for his surgery now!" a head nurse shouted as she disregarded Naruto's friends' presence.

"He's going into surgery right now?" Itachi questioned as he looked on in disbelief at the scene playing out in front of the three of them.

"The attack must have been more severe than we originally thought." Sasuke managed to say right before he turned around and started walking quickly down the hall toward the elevators. Shikamaru was upset with both brothers responses.

"So that's it for the two of you? No one is going to stay here with me to see how Naruto is!" he scolded as Itachi looked at his watch before turning to walk toward the elevators himself. The CEO could see how his subtle actions were upsetting the teen.

"My apologies Shikamaru but I can't put off this important meeting any longer. I'll have my little brother keep me updated on Naruto's condition." he announced as he once again started heading for the elevator doors that were opening up. Sasuke was already in his car on his way to Sakura's house. He was hoping to catch her before she headed out for school. As for Shikamaru, he was frustrated more than ever. He was not impressed with the callousness of both Uchiha brothers now that he had seen a side of them that was uninviting.

* * *

Sasuke finished kissing Sakura's lips and once again he felt the warmth that only she could give him. "Do you want to tell me what this is about?" she asked curiously. The raven pulled away to reposition himself in his driver's seat.

"I'm just really tense today. It always helps me when we can do this." he replied as he continued savoring the tingle on his own lips.

"What exactly is _this_ that we're suppose to be doing? You drive over to my house, get out of your car, pull me by the hand, and then whisk us off to this park where we do this for ten minutes. Sasuke...is _this_ all that you have to offer me in this relationship?" Sakura questioned. The raven was confused with his girlfriend's attitude.

"Why are you getting all over me about nothing? Isn't it enough that I came over to see you today? I figured you were missing me and..." but Sakura was seeing red.

"You're something else, Sasuke Uchiha!...You think you can pretend to be my boyfriend only when it's convenient for you but..." Sasuke couldn't help but interrupt the pink head's venting.

"You're my girlfriend, I should be able to see you whenever I want! It's not like you're going out of your way to make me feel special!" he shouted back.

At that point, Sakura couldn't even sit in the car with Sasuke. "Your ego is so inflated right now, that there's not enough room for the both of us to sit here any longer!" she shouted as she started getting out of the Mitsubishi. Sasuke looked at Sakura with anger and fumbled his way out of his car as well.

"Where are you going? We have school to go to!" he shouted.

"I'll take the bus!...Oh and another thing, we're over! I'm breaking up with you, Sasuke and don't bother calling me or texting me either!" Sakura hollered back as she stormed her way over to a crowd of pedestrians getting ready to cross to the other side of the street.

Sasuke couldn't believe what had just happened. Where was the comfort he had gone to Sakura for? Now she was pouting on some bus to go to school on, and he was standing across the street with a headache about to start pounding.

Was Naruto really okay? It might have been rude or abrupt for him to leave the hospital the way he did, but he had no other choice. Seeing Naruto convulse was too much. Besides Shikamaru stayed behind, and he gave Itachi his word that he would keep him informed. But how was he going to know what Naruto's status was, if he didn't even check back with Shikamaru?

This was a mess. His life had been uncomplicated until he decided to help Naruto out. The truth of what happened to the blonde was still eating away at him. It didn't matter how normal he tried to be, the truth that he now knew about, made his stomach turn everytime he got near his so called best friend. Needing to get away from Naruto and his problems for only a few hours, was what he opted for. The dobe was on his own until he came back to their house if he was even released from the hospital that day. If he wasn't then it would give the raven a little more space before the problem blonde started invading his home territory.

* * *

Amaru was standing at her locker trying out the combo, when she heard some peers walk by her talking very loud. "...they said that he got jumped or something last night." a short red head gossiped to her lengthy cheerleader teammate.

"Seriously?...That guy has rotten luck! I mean he's been in our classes going on, what is it...five years now?...and he's such a loser still. He use to be so cool, but now he's a total dweeb. He doesn't hang out with anybody, and he doesn't even have one girl who likes him." she rambled on. At this point the two girls had stopped to finish their conversation in the hall right behind Amaru.

"I think he's cute, but I'd be embarassed to go out with him though. I also heard that he's a cutter and has alot of personal problems." the red head continued spilling. The more information that Amaru eased dropped in on, the more she became agitated in not having a clue who these magpies were trashing on, right behind her back.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but hear a little of what you were talking about. You see I'm new here, and I must have all the latest gossip to make sure that I don't hang out with the wrong crowd, if you know what I mean." she sarcastically explained hoping that the two nuisances would take her bait.

The red head looked over at her friend with a look of disgust. "Who is she?" the taller blonde snidely asked putting on airs. The red head only chuckled with ego.

"A leafer wannabe...Get a life dweeb. We'd never tell you anything." she chided as both her friend and she swished their refined waistlines around in the opposite direction as sashayed off down the hall.

"A Leafer?...You're the ones that are Leafer wannabes...You pompous air heads!" Amaru shouted just as she was rudely bumped out of the way.

"Move over and stop being so annoying." Sasuke grumbled as he pushed his way past the red head. Once Amaru recognized who was talking to her, she pointed her finger in the raven's face.

"So this is what you're really like!...You're just another..." but Sasuke wasn't in the mood for any girl's frivilous babble.

"Like all girls, you talk nonsense, and I'm going to be late for class." the raven announced as he continued walking further down the hall. Amaru was floored with the three sixty attitude that Sasuke was now giving her.

"Yeah, well I'm here to see Naruto, not some idiot like you who treats girls like they're..." but Amaru didn't get a chance to finish her rant. Sasuke rushed at the unsuspecting girl swiftly and pulled her into a side hall where no one else was walking.

Amaru was startled as she felt her wrist being tugged on. "Stop it! Let go of me!" she shouted with such force, that Sasuke lost his head and pressed the girl against the powder blue cinder block wall.

"Right now, that's the last name that I want to hear! You don't know what you're doing by wanting to see the dobe and..." but Amaru stopped Sasuke mid sentence.

"Dobe?...Are you calling Naruto that?...He's no dobe, or moron, or any horrible name that you want to..." but a teacher had been walking down the main hall, and Sasuke didn't need the brassy red head getting them in trouble. Just as the footsteps of the fifty year old mathematics teacher squeaked by them in his new, not broken in black patton leather shoes, the raven did the unpredictable.

Amaru froze as soft warm lips pressed against her own. Seconds later of seeing how surprised the girl was, the raven shook his head in protest for her to not undo their lip lock until the over disciplined instructor passed them by. As the footsteps moved further away, Amaru started pushing Sasuke off from herself, but the raven was too much into the kiss still. For him, these were the lips that he wanted to be kissing and especially after breaking up with Sakura that morning. Out of all the girls for him to run into, it was Amaru. He now could go ahead with his idea to somehow get together with this fireball who was pressed against the wall in front of him, and trying desperately to find a way to knock his block off.

Getting madder by the second, Amaru wanted Sasuke off her lips now! Pushing him hard away from herself, the raven finally came back to his senses when he realized what he had just done. "How dare you!...Where do you get off putting your..."but Sasuke had to shut the venting girl immediately.

"Urusei!...You're going to get us both caught!" he warned as he tried coming near her again. Amaru got in offensive position.

"You're not going to kiss me again! I'll walk out on my own and take the hall write up! Hnn!" she sputtered as she pushed herself passed Sasuke and tried tip toeing the rest of the way down the echoing corridor until she bumped into the very instructor that they had been trying to avoid in the side hall. Hearing the sneaking girl behind him, Mr. Tiato lumbered his frame around to get ready and glare the antsy girl down like he did to show his authorative position over the uncouth student body.

Sasuke watched in amusement as to how the fireball was going to work her charms on the strictest teacher of their school. "Young lady, what is your excuse for being in the halls after the bell already rang?" Mr. Tiato boomed with his proud base vocals. Amaru smiled first, and then sauntered up to the overlapped chinned instructor and got ready to tell him her tale of woe.

"Sensei, I got lost in this big school since I'm new here, and I took a wrong turn on my way to my first period class." she whined while batting her sparkling blues at the older man.

Feeling warm and tingly from the sweet girl's approach to him, Mr. Tiato cleared his throat before responding. "Well since you put it that way, I guess I can let this time slide." he shared. Amaru beamed her smile and bowed respectfully before the blue suited man wearing the long red silk tie, to match his polished shoes continued waddling his way toward his office.

"Oh, thank you Sensei." Amaru replied as she started running down the hall toward somewhere, not having a clue where her first period class was at all.

Sasuke had lingered behind to see how this new girl was going to pull her act off. Once he saw that she could handle herself, he chuckled to himself while putting his fingers to his lips to touch the tingle that he still felt on them, before he too headed off to his class. Amaru's kiss was different because she meant something to him, that he no longer felt toward Sakura.

* * *

Shikamaru pressed Sasuke's cell phone number out quickly and hoped that the raven would pick up whether he was in class or not. Sure enough when Sasuke heard his phone ringing, he rushed into the boy's bathroom to take the call. "Yeah, did something happen to Naruto?" he asked nervously.

"Yeah, they won't tell me anything in detail, but what I do know is that they're prepping him for that surgery we heard the nurses talking about earlier. It's going to be some kind of major surgery but I don't know what they found on his second MRI, but it seems to be serious." Shikamaru tried explaining calmly but was having a hard time doing so.

"Are they taking him out of his room or something? How do you know it's major surgery?...maybe it will be outpatient." Sasuke asked further.

"I know because a nurse came in and started shaving his head. Are you coming back or what?" Shikamaru questioned with worry and irritation.

Sasuke took a deep breath before answering. This was his friend, but did Naruto really need him to be there? Was he even aware of anyone's presence, or could the raven see him after the surgery was over? Needing to give his friend an answer, Sasuke put his mouth to his phone. "Yeah, I'll be there soon.", and then he ended the call.

Knowing that Itachi would be in his meeting, Sasuke left a message with his secretary. "...and let him know that I'll be at the hospital for the rest of the day." the younger raven informed.

Four hours later, Naruto was wheeled out of the operating room. Itachi, Sasuke, and Shikamaru stood up in anxious anticipation. "Doctor, how did Naruto's surgery go?" Itachi asked on behalf of everyone else. The doctor removed his surgery cap and looked weary at Naruto's new guardian.

"The boy was lucky. He had a blood clot forming in a very dangerous area of his brain, but we removed it. He'll be brought to his room in about two hours, and then you can stay with him then. I also have to say, that I've never seen a boy his age with so much stamina. These next couple of hours will be crucial in determining if the surgery was successful or not. Now if you all will please excuse me." he finished up saying before walking off to wash up.

* * *

Naruto kept dreaming and it wasn't a peaceful one either. He kept imaging himself running away from some people who were chasing him, and the faster he tried running, the heavier his legs felt. Seeing the people more clearly, he realized that it was Jiraiya, Shikamaru, all of his teachers, Hinata, Sakura, and the rest of the classmates that he went to school with, and that Sasuke was at the very back of the crowd only watching from afar.

This irritated Naruto was he watched all the people that he knew in his life, calling out his name like they desperately needed something from him. But only Sasuke didn't call out. He was still at the back of the crowd and he was intensely saying something that came out in only a whisper. Then all the people froze in time as Naruto strained his ears to hear what it was that Sasuke was telling him. Feeling frustrated, he called out to the calloused Uchiha.

"Sasuke what are you saying to me? I can't hear you! What are you telling me?" he called out in desperation. Sasuke's intense eyes zoomed in on Naruto's face.

"Be free Naruto. Let us come closer to you, and be free."

Suddenly Naruto opened his eye and saw that Sasuke, and Shikamaru were sitting next to his bed. Not having a clear understanding of where he was at that moment, he looked confused as he opened his eyes wider.

"So you're finally awake." Sasuke announced which caused Shikamaru to wake up from his dozing.

"Is he awake yet?" he asked groggily as he tried to focus his sight on the weakened blonde.

"My head." Naruto shared as he reached his IV arm up to try and touch his bandaged head. Immediately Sasuke blocked Naruto's attempt.

"Oi, don't touch that. You just had surgery on your head and..." but Naruto hollered out his fear.

"Surgery!...Why?...What for?" he kept asking as he felt agitated at learning of what he had just had done to him. Sasuke calmly dropped Naruto's arm back to his side before responding.

"It had to be done. But you're going to be better now. Just rest, and we'll come back tomorrow." the raven tried sharing. Naruto became scared and started panicking.

"What happened to me? Why did I need to have surgery!...I want to know why...ow!" he yelled until a piercing pain rushed through his head.

"Didn't I tell you to stop? You just had major surgery and you can't be touching your head. Just calm down and go back to sleep. We've got to go home but we'll see how you're doing later tonight, okay?" the raven informed. Naruto gave his pouty face.

"I don't want to be here by myself. Can't you guys stay a little longer?" he asked feeling miserable. Shikamaru felt that himself saying something would have better impact on Naruto than what Sasuke was talking about.

"Hey Naruto, your surgery was many hours and it's important for you to regain your strength. We're going to go and let you rest some more, ne?" he shared hoping that his pouting friend would agree with him.

"Alright. But you guys better come back when you say you will." he reminded. Shikamaru couldn't help but laugh a little to himself now that he was seeing some of his friend's old traits coming back. Naruto was being whimperish, and that's the way he use to be before he left for the states. It was nice to see again. Before Naruto could say another word, he blinked his eyes shut, and never opened them afterward. Sasuke chuckled at how fast the dobe had zonked out. Now they could rest assure that Naruto would be okay until morning as both headed out of their friend's hospital room and toward's a restaurant to grab a bite to eat.


End file.
